# Question #2006027: Computing Confidence Intervals

Question: Biologists studying the healing of skin wounds measured the rate at which new cells closed a razor cut made in the skin of an anesthetized newt. Here are data from 18 newts, measured in micrometers (millionths of a meter per hour:

29 27 34 40 22 28 14 35 26

35 12 30 23 18 11 22 23 33

a. Make a stemplot of the healing rates (split the stems). It is difficult to assess Normality from 18 observations, but look for outliers or extreme skewness. What do you find?

a. Scientists usually assume that animal subjects are SRSs from their species or genetic type. Treat these newts as an SRS and suppose you know that the standard deviation of healing rates for this species of newt is 8 micrometers per hour. Give a 90% confidence interval for the mean healing rate for the species.

a. A friend who knows almost no statistics uses the formula $\overline{x}\pm 1.96\sigma /\sqrt{N}$ in a biology lab manual to get a 95% confidence interval for the mean. Is her interval wider or narrower than yours? Explain to her why it makes sense that higher confidence changes the length of the interval.

Solution: The solution consists of 413 words (3 pages)
Deliverables: Word Document

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