The 2003 Statistical Abstract of the United States reported the percentage of people 18 years of age and older who smoke. Suppose that a study designed to collect new data on smokers and nonsmokers uses a preliminary estimate of the proportion who smoke of .30.

a. How large a sample should be taken to estimate the proportion of smokers in the population with a margin of error of .02 (to the nearest whole number)? Use 95% confidence.

b. Assume that the study uses your sample size recommendation in part (a) and finds 520 smokers. What is the point estimate of the proportion of smokers in the population (to 4 decimals)?

c. What is the 95% confidence interval for the proportion of smokers in the population (to 4 decimals)?
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Three firms carry inventories that differ in size. Firm A's inventory contains 2000 items, firm B's inventory contains 5000 items, and firm C's inventory contains 10,000 items. The population standard deviation for the cost of the items in each firm's inventory is = 144. A statistical consultant recommends that each firm take a sample of 50 items from its inventory to provide statistically valid estimates of the average cost per item. Managers of the small firm state that because it has the smallest population, it should be able to make the estimate from a much smaller sample than that required by the larger firms. However, the consultant states that to obtain the same standard error and thus the same precision in the sample results, all firms should use the same sample size regardless of population size.

1.Using the finite population correction factor, compute the standard error for each of the three firms given a sample of size 50.
2.What is the probability that for each firm the sample mean will be within 25 of the population mean ?

the method is right!

a. To determine the sample size needed to estimate the proportion of smokers in the population with a margin of error of 0.02 at a 95% confidence level, we can use the formula for sample size calculation:

n = (z^2 * p * (1 - p)) / E^2

Where:
- n is the sample size
- z is the z-score corresponding to the desired confidence level (95% confidence level corresponds to a z-score of approximately 1.96)
- p is the preliminary estimate of the proportion who smoke (0.30)
- E is the desired margin of error (0.02)

Plugging in the values:

n = (1.96^2 * 0.30 * (1 - 0.30)) / 0.02^2

n ≈ (3.8416 * 0.30 * 0.70) / 0.0004

n ≈ 7.1772 / 0.0004

n ≈ 17943

Rounding to the nearest whole number, the sample size should be approximately 17943.

b. If the study uses the recommended sample size of 17943 and finds 520 smokers, the point estimate of the proportion of smokers in the population can be calculated by dividing the number of smokers in the sample (520) by the sample size (17943):

Point estimate = 520 / 17943 ≈ 0.02899 (rounded to 4 decimals)

So, the point estimate of the proportion of smokers in the population is approximately 0.02899.

c. To calculate the 95% confidence interval for the proportion of smokers in the population, we can use the following formula:

CI = Point estimate ± (z * SE)

Where:
- CI represents the confidence interval
- Point estimate is the proportion of smokers in the sample (0.02899)
- z is the z-score corresponding to the desired confidence level (95% confidence level corresponds to a z-score of approximately 1.96)
- SE is the standard error, calculated as SE = sqrt((p * (1 - p)) / n), where p is the point estimate and n is the sample size

Plugging in the values:

SE = sqrt((0.02899 * (1 - 0.02899)) / 17943)

SE ≈ sqrt(0.000831 * 17943)

SE ≈ sqrt(14.901933)

SE ≈ 3.8619 (rounded to 4 decimals)

Now we can calculate the confidence interval:

CI = 0.02899 ± (1.96 * 3.8619)

CI ≈ (0.02899 - 7.5647, 0.02899 + 7.5647)

CI ≈ (-7.53571, 7.59369)

Rounding to 4 decimals, the 95% confidence interval for the proportion of smokers in the population is approximately (-7.5357, 7.5937).

The 2003 Statistical Abstract of the United States reported the percentage of people 18 years of age and older who smoke. Suppose that a study designed to collect new data on smokers and nonsmokers uses a preliminary estimate of the proportion who smoke of .30.

a. How large a sample should be taken to estimate the proportion of smokers in the population with a margin of error of .02 (to the nearest whole number)? Use 95% confidence.

n = (za/2)^2 *pq/E
n = (1.96)^2*.3*.7/.02^2
n =2017
b. Assume that the study uses your sample size recommendation in part (a) and finds 520 smokers. What is the point estimate of the proportion of smokers in the population (to 4 decimals)?

Phat = 520/2017
Phat = 0.2578

c. What is the 95% confidence interval for the proportion of smokers in the population (to 4 decimals)?

Phat ± z*σ/√pq/n
0.2578 ± 0.0191
(0.2378, 0.2769)