HA-7

1. Childrens weekly water consumption (X, in liters) is a variable that is normally distributed with
dispersion = 3.5. In a simple random sample of 45 children, the weekly average consumption of
water is 17.72 liters.
a. Obtain a confidence interval (90%) for the expected consumption.
b. If water consumption is not normally distributed, what happens with the confidence
interval?
c. Determine the minimum sample size to estimate the expected consumption with a margin
of error of 1 liter and a confidence level of 95%
2. The annual electricity household consumption is a random variable whose distribution is unknown.
A random sample of 23 households shows average consumption is 1800 and sd 341.54 KWH.
a. Obtain a confidence interval for the expected annual consumption with a confidence level of
95%.
b. If electricity consumption were normally distributed, how would this affect the above
interval?
c. Obtain a confidence interval if the population is normally distributed with standard
deviation = 340.
d. If the previous interval was to be reduced to a half, how much do you need to increase
sample size, keeping the same level of confidence?

3. A previous study of nickels showed that the standard deviation of the weight of nickels is 100
milligrams. A coin counter manufacturer wishes to find the 95% confidence interval for the average
weight of a nickel. How many nickels does he need to weigh to be accurate within 10 milligrams?

4. A population is known to be normally distributed with a standard deviation of 2.8.

a. Compute the 95% confidence interval on the mean based on the following sample of nine:
8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20 and 21.
b. Compute the 99% confidence interval using the same data.
5. A confidence interval for the population mean computed from an N of 16 ranges from 12 to 28. A
new sample of 36 observations is going to be taken. You can't know in advance exactly what the
confidence interval will be because it depends on the random sample. Even so, you should have
some idea of what it will be. Give your best estimation.
6. The length of time a bus takes to travel from Railway station to City center in the morning rush hour
is normally distributed with standard deviation 4 minutes. A random sample of 6 journeys took 23,
19, 25, 34, 24 and 28 minutes. Find a 95% confidence interval for the mean journey time.

7. The development engineer of a company making razors records the time it takes him to shave, on
seven mornings, using a standard razor made by the company. The times, in seconds, were 217, 210,

254, 237, 232, 228 and 243. Assuming that this may be regarded as a random sample from a normal
distribution, calculate a 95% confidence interval for the mean.