In: Statistics and Probability
The personnel department of a large corporation wants to estimate the family dental expenses of its employees to determine the feasibility of providing a dental insurance plan. A random sample of 12 employees reveals the following family dental expenses (in dollars): 115, 370, 250, 593, 540, 225, 177, 425, 318, 182, 275, and 228. Construct a 97% confidence interval estimate for the standard deviation of family dental expenses for all employees of this corporation
Solution:
Given a sample of size n = 12
115, 370, 250, 593, 540, 225, 177, 425, 318, 182, 275,228
x | x2 | |
115 | 13225 | |
370 | 136900 | |
250 | 62500 | |
593 | 351649 | |
540 | 291600 | |
225 | 50625 | |
177 | 31329 | |
425 | 180625 | |
318 | 101124 | |
182 | 33124 | |
275 | 75625 | |
228 | 51984 | |
Sum | 3698 | 1380310 |
Sample variance s2 =
= [1/(12 - 1)][1380310 - (36982/12) ]
= 21882.696969697
s2 = 21882.696969697
Our aim is to construct 97% confidence interval for the population standard deviation
c = 97% = 0.97
= 1 - 0.97 = 0.03
/ 2 = 0.015 and 1 - ( / 2) = 0.985
Now , n = 12
d.f. = n - 1 = 12 - 1 = 11
Now , using chi square table ,
/2,df = 0.015,11 = 23.503
1- /2,df = 0.985,11 = 3.363
Now ,
The 97% confidence interval for 2 is,
( 12 - 1) *21882.696969697/ 23.503< 2 < ( 12 -1 ) * 21882.696969697/ 3.363
10241.6570934 < 2 < 71575.874715
Now , the confidence interval for the population standard deviation is given by taking square root of the confidence interval for 2
10241.6570934 < < 71575.874715
101.20 < < 267.54