Final answer:
To construct a 90% confidence interval for the population mean μ, we use the formula (x - EBM, x + EBM), where x is the sample mean and EBM is the margin of error. The margin of error for this sample is 1.949 minutes, resulting in a confidence interval of (3042.05, 3045.95) for the population mean μ.
Step-by-step explanation:
To construct a 90% confidence interval for the population mean μ, we can use the formula:
(x - EBM, x + EBM)
Where x is the sample mean and EBM is the error bound or margin of error. The formula for EBM is:
EBM = (t-value) * (standard deviation / sqrt(sample size))
In this case, the sample mean is 3044 minutes, the standard deviation is 7.1 minutes, and the sample size is 27. Since we are using a t-distribution, we need to find the t-value. With a 90% confidence level and a sample size of 27, the degrees of freedom is 26. Looking up the t-value in a t-table, we find that the t-value is approximately 1.708. Plugging in the values into the formula:
EBM = 1.708 * (7.1 / sqrt(27)) = 1.949
So the margin of error is 1.949 minutes. The confidence interval for the population mean μ is (3044 - 1.949, 3044 + 1.949), which simplifies to (3042.05, 3045.95).