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| Question 1206353:  In a survey, 13 people were asked how much they spent on their child's last birthday gift. The results were roughly bell-shaped with a mean of $35.6 and standard deviation of $3.3. Estimate how much a typical parent would spend on their child's birthday gift (use a 99% confidence level). Give your answers to 3 decimal places.
 
 Found 2 solutions by  Theo, math_tutor2020:
 Answer by Theo(13342)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! sample size is 13. sample mean is 35.6
 standard deviation is 3.3
 
 tk-score formula is t = (x-m)/s
 t is the t-score
 x is the critical sample mean
 m is the sample mean
 s is the standard error
 
 at 99% two tail confidence interval with 12 degrees of freedom (sample size minus 1 = degrees of freedom in this problem), the critical t-score is equal to plus or minus t = 3.054540 rounded to 6 decimal places.
 
 s = standard error = standard deviation / sqrt(sample size) = 3.3 / sqrt(13) = .915255 rounded to 6 decimal places.
 
 t-score formula becomes plus or minus 3.054540 = (x - 35.6) / .915255.
 
 on the high side of the confidence interval, solve for x to get x = 3.054540 * .915255 + 35.6 = 38.395683 rounded to 6 decimal places.
 
 on the low side of the confidence interval, solve for x to get x = -3.054540 * .915255 = 35.5 = 32.804317 rounded to 6 decimal places.
 
 your solution is that the a typical parent would spend from 32.804 to 38.396 on their child's birthday, rounded to 3 decimal places, at 99% confidence interval.
 
 
Answer by math_tutor2020(3817)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Answer: (32.804, 38.396)
 It is equivalent to writing 32.804 < mu < 38.396
 
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 Explanation
 
 n = 13 = sample size
 xbar = 35.6 = sample mean
 s = 3.3 = sample standard deviation
 sigma = population standard deviation = unknown
 
 Because we don't know the value of sigma, and because n > 30 is not the case, we must use the T distribution.
 
 df = degrees of freedom
 df = n-1
 df = 13-1
 df = 12
 
 Use a T table such as this one
 https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/t-table.pdf
 or one found on any other websites, or one found in the back of your stats textbook.
 For exam purposes, your teacher is likely to hand out such a table if s/he expected you to use it.
 
 Locate the row that starts with df = 12.
 The column we want will have "confidence level = 99%" labeled at the bottom.
 The intersection of this row and column leads to 3.055 which is the approximate t critical value.
 It means that P(-3.055 < T < 3.055) = 0.99 approximately when df = 12.
 
 Many online stats calculators can be used as an alternative to determine the t critical value.
 Or you could use a TI84 or similar
 https://www.statology.org/how-to-find-the-t-critical-value-on-a-ti-84-calculator/
 
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 Here are the key values we need
 xbar = 35.6
 s = 3.3
 n = 13
 t = 3.055 (approximate)
 
 Then,
 E = margin of error
 E = t*s/sqrt(n)
 E = 3.055*3.3/sqrt(13)
 E = 2.796105
 which is approximate
 
 Now we can compute the lower bound and upper bound.
 L = lower bound
 L = xbar - E
 L = 35.6 - 2.796105
 L = 32.803895
 L = 32.804
 
 U = upper bound
 U = xbar + E
 U = 35.6 + 2.796105
 U = 38.396105
 U = 38.396
 
 The 99% confidence interval of the form L < mu < U would be roughly 32.804 < mu < 38.396
 That condenses to the notation (32.804, 38.396)
 
 Some textbooks will use the notation [32.804, 38.396] which represents the same thing more or less.
 The fact we include endpoints or not isn't really important to the confidence interval overall.
 
 Here is a calculator you can use to check your work
 https://www.socscistatistics.com/confidenceinterval/default2.aspx
 and here's another similar resource
 https://www.statology.org/confidence-intervals-ti-84-calculator/
 The function you want is called TInterval
 
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