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The lifetime of a certain brand of heat pump is known to be normally distributed. A sample of 6 heat pumps yielded the following observations: At a significance level of a.10 we will see if there is reason to believe that the mean life

2.0 1.3 6.0 1.9 5.1 4
of the heat pumps is different from 2. Find the appropriate confidence interval for the true mean life of heat pumps. The sample standard deviation is 1.93
A. (1.839, 4.927)
B. (1.354, 5.406)
C. (1.839, 4.297)
D. (1.795, 4.971)
E. (2.084, 4.676)

1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

The appropriate 90% confidence interval for the true mean life of heat pumps, using a sample size of 6 and a sample standard deviation of 1.93, is found to be approximately (1.795, 4.971), which corresponds to Option D.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the confidence interval for the mean life of heat pumps given a sample with a sample standard deviation of 1.93, a sample size of 6, and using a significance level of 0.10 (which corresponds to a 90% confidence level), we can use the t-distribution since the sample size is small. First, we calculate the sample mean:

Mean = (2.0 + 1.3 + 6.0 + 1.9 + 5.1 + 4.0) / 6 = 20.3 / 6 = 3.3833

Next, we find the t-value for a 90% confidence interval and degrees of freedom (n - 1), which is 5. From the t-distribution table or using a calculator with statistical functions, we obtain the t-value (we round to two decimal places for simplicity here).

For a 90% confidence interval and 5 degrees of freedom, the t-value is approximately 2.015.

Now, calculate the margin of error (E):

E = (t-value) × (s / sqrt(n))

E = 2.015 × (1.93 / sqrt(6)) = 2.015 × (1.93 / 2.4495) = 1.58 (approximately)

Finally, we can find the confidence interval:

Lower limit = Mean - E = 3.3833 - 1.58 = 1.8033

Upper limit = Mean + E = 3.3833 + 1.58 = 4.9633

Thus, we can round our answer to two decimal places and select the correct option:

The appropriate confidence interval for the true mean life of heat pumps is approximately (1.80, 4.96), which corresponds to Option D. (1.795, 4.971).

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