Final answer:
To find the margin of error for constructing a confidence interval, you need to calculate the standard error and multiply it by the appropriate critical value from the t-distribution. In this case, the margin of error is approximately 27.09.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the margin of error for constructing a confidence interval, we first need to calculate the standard error. The formula for the standard error of the difference between two sample means is:
SE = sqrt((s1^2/n1) + (s2^2/n2))
where s1 and s2 are the sample standard deviations, and n1 and n2 are the sample sizes. In this case, we have:
SE = sqrt((34^2/11) + (22^2/8))
SE ≈ 14.82
The margin of error is then obtained by multiplying the standard error by the appropriate critical value from the t-distribution, depending on the desired level of confidence. Since the problem specifies a 90% confidence interval, we use a critical value of t = 1.833 for the two-sample case.
Margin of Error = t * SE
Margin of Error ≈ 1.833 * 14.82 ≈ 27.09