Final Answer:
The 98% confidence interval for the percentage of readers who felt the city did a good job with snow removal is [0.6714, 0.7551]. This means we can be 98% confident that the true percentage falls within this interval, providing a reliable estimate based on the survey of 983 randomly selected readers from the Richland Gazette.
Step-by-step explanation:
To construct a confidence interval for the percentage of readers who felt the city did a good job with snow removal, we utilize the formula for the confidence interval for a proportion:
![\[ \text{Confidence Interval} = \hat{p} \pm Z * \sqrt{\frac{\hat{p}(1-\hat{p})}{n}} \]](https://img.qammunity.org/2024/formulas/mathematics/high-school/6eefqz9pco4i72kzqwvmxi4w64lf7zwuow.png)
Here,
represents the sample proportion, (Z) is the Z-score corresponding to the desired confidence level, and
is the sample size. For this survey, the sample proportion

The Z-score for a 98% confidence interval is approximately 2.33, and the sample size (n) is 983. Substituting these values into the formula, we obtain:
![\[ \text{Confidence Interval} = 0.6979 \pm 2.33 * \sqrt{(0.6979 * (1-0.6979))/(983)} \]](https://img.qammunity.org/2024/formulas/mathematics/high-school/ssr03kv9uscts4nbo4hniqwxzr5epjcdx1.png)
Computing this expression yields the 98% confidence interval [0.6714, 0.7551]. Consequently, we can assert with 98% confidence that the true percentage of readers who believe the city did a good job with snow removal falls within this interval.
In essence, this means that if the survey were replicated numerous times, 98% of resulting confidence intervals would encompass the true population proportion. This interval provides a range within which we can reasonably estimate the sentiment of the broader reader population regarding the city's handling of snow removal based on this random sample.