Math Problem Statement

As part of a marketing study, Sleep 'n' Dream wants to estimate, for customers who have recently purchased a mattress and box spring, the average number of stores that customers visited before making their purchase. A sample of six customers is randomly selected, with the following results: [6, 10, 4, 5, 7, 4]. Use this sample data to construct a 90% confidence interval estimate of the average number of store visits for the population represented here. Assume that the population of values is approximately normal.

Solution

To construct a 90% confidence interval estimate of the average number of store visits based on the provided data, we follow these steps:

Given Data:

Store visits: 6,10,4,5,7,46, 10, 4, 5, 7, 4

Step 1: Compute the sample mean (xˉ\bar{x}) and sample standard deviation (ss).

xˉ=xin\bar{x} = \frac{\sum x_i}{n}

s=(xixˉ)2n1s = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x_i - \bar{x})^2}{n-1}}

Step 2: Determine the critical value (tt^*) for a 90% confidence level with n1=5n-1 = 5 degrees of freedom.

Step 3: Calculate the margin of error (EE).

E=t×snE = t^* \times \frac{s}{\sqrt{n}}

Step 4: Construct the confidence interval.

Confidence Interval=(xˉE,xˉ+E)\text{Confidence Interval} = \left( \bar{x} - E, \bar{x} + E \right)

Now, I'll calculate these values step by step.import numpy as np from scipy.stats import t

Given data

store_visits = [6, 10, 4, 5, 7, 4] n = len(store_visits)

Step 1: Calculate sample mean and standard deviation

mean = np.mean(store_visits) std_dev = np.std(store_visits, ddof=1) # Sample standard deviation

Step 2: Determine the critical t-value for 90% confidence level and df = n-1

confidence_level = 0.90 degrees_freedom = n - 1 t_critical = t.ppf((1 + confidence_level) / 2, degrees_freedom)

Step 3: Calculate margin of error

margin_of_error = t_critical * (std_dev / np.sqrt(n))

Step 4: Compute the confidence interval

confidence_interval = (mean - margin_of_error, mean + margin_of_error)

mean, std_dev, t_critical, margin_of_error, confidence_interval(6.0, 2.280350850198276, 2.015048372669157, 1.8759079450505391, (4.124092054949461, 7.875907945050539))(6.0, 2.280350850198276, 2.015048372669157, 1.8759079450505391, (4.124092054949461, 7.875907945050539))success### Results:

  1. Sample Mean (xˉ\bar{x}): 6.06.0
  2. Sample Standard Deviation (ss): 2.282.28
  3. Critical t-value (tt^*): 2.0152.015
  4. Margin of Error (EE): 1.8761.876
  5. 90% Confidence Interval: (4.12,7.88)(4.12, 7.88)

This means we are 90% confident that the true average number of store visits lies between 4.124.12 and 7.887.88.

Do you have any questions or want further details? Here are some follow-up questions to consider:

  1. How does the sample size affect the confidence interval width?
  2. What is the importance of assuming the population is approximately normal?
  3. What would change if we were constructing a 95% confidence interval instead?
  4. How is the critical t-value determined for different confidence levels?
  5. Can this method be applied to datasets with larger or smaller samples?

Tip: Always ensure that the data satisfies the normality assumption when using the t-distribution for small sample sizes.

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Math Problem Analysis

Mathematical Concepts

Statistics
Confidence Interval
t-Distribution

Formulas

Sample Mean: \(\bar{x} = \frac{\sum x_i}{n}\)
Sample Standard Deviation: \(s = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x_i - \bar{x})^2}{n-1}}\)
Margin of Error: \(E = t^* \cdot \frac{s}{\sqrt{n}}\)
Confidence Interval: \((\bar{x} - E, \bar{x} + E)\)

Theorems

Central Limit Theorem
Properties of t-Distribution

Suitable Grade Level

Grades 11-12 or College Statistics