Final answer:
a. To guarantee that 75% of the earnings growth ... approximately 68% of the earnings growth will be within the interval of 6.1% to 10.3%.
Step-by-step explanation:
a. To guarantee that 75% of the earnings growth will be within a certain interval, we can use the empirical rule. Since the mean earnings growth is 8.2% and the standard deviation is 2.1%, we can calculate the interval by adding and subtracting one standard deviation from the mean. 8.2% - 2.1% = 6.1% and 8.2% + 2.1% = 10.3%. Therefore, we can guarantee that 75% of the earnings growth will be within the interval of 6.1% to 10.3%.
b. According to the empirical rule, approximately 68% of the earnings growth will be within one standard deviation of the mean. Therefore, if we add and subtract one standard deviation from the mean, the interval will be 8.2% - 2.1% = 6.1% to 8.2% + 2.1% = 10.3%. Hence, we can estimate that approximately 68% of the earnings growth will be within the interval of 6.1% to 10.3%.