Final answer:
A p-value of 0.047 means that there is a 4.7% probability of obtaining the observed results if the null hypothesis is true. Therefore, we can conclude that the new treatment is more effective than the traditional ointment.
Step-by-step explanation:
In this context, a p-value of 0.047 means that there is a 4.7% probability of obtaining the observed results (or more extreme results) if the null hypothesis is true. In other words, if the null hypothesis states that there is no difference between the new treatment and the traditional ointment, the probability of observing the results that were obtained in the study is 4.7%.
Typically, in hypothesis testing, a p-value of less than 0.05 (or 5%) is considered statistically significant. Since the p-value in this case is 0.047, which is less than 0.05, we can reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the new treatment is more effective than the traditional ointment.