In: Statistics and Probability
The table below contains the birth weights in grams of 26
African American babies born at BayState Medical Center in
Springfield, Massachusetts in 1986. Compute a 95% confidence
interval for birth weight.
Directions: Click on the Data button below to
display the data. Copy the data into a statistical software package
and click the Data button a second time to hide it.
Data
| Weight | 
|---|
| 2508 | 
| 2774 | 
| 2927 | 
| 2951 | 
| 2910 | 
| 2961 | 
| 2960 | 
| 3047 | 
| 3030 | 
| 3352 | 
| 3416 | 
| 3392 | 
| 3477 | 
| 3789 | 
| 3857 | 
| 1174 | 
| 1666 | 
| 1952 | 
| 2146 | 
| 2178 | 
| 2307 | 
| 2383 | 
| 2406 | 
| 2410 | 
| 2476 | 
| 2508 | 
Solution:
Given the data on the birth weights in grams of 26 African American babies born at BayState Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1986 and we have to compute a 95% confidence interval for birth weight.
We have use R programming to test the hypothesis
> Weight = c(2508,2774,2927,2951,2910,2961,2960,3047,3030,3352,3416,3392,3477,
+ 3789,3857,1174,1666,1952,2146,2178,2307,2383,2406,2410,2476,2508) 1) Point estimate for the birth weights is given by the sample mean > mean(Weight) [1] 2729.115
So, the point estimate for the birth weights is 2729.11500
2) The value of t critical at 5% level of significance and 25 degree of fredom is
t ctc = 1.70814
3) Margin of error is given by
M.E = tctc*S.E
Where, S.E = standard error
> S.E = sd(Weight)/sqrt(26)
> S.E [1] 124.8885 > M.E = 1.70814*S.E > M.E [1] 213.3
Hence, margin of error is 257.2
4) The the confidence interval for birth weights is given by
(mean - M.E, mean +M.E )
> mean(Weight)-M.E
[1] 2515.788 > mean(Weight)+M.E [1] 2942.442
So, confidence interval is
(2515.788, 2942.442)
Yes, we can conclude that the average birth weight is greater than 2500 grams, SInce the entire confidence is above 2500.