Adam Pieniazek

Exercise 12.34
04/23/2007

Given:

y =56.780.124x
s b1=2.88
α=.05

Assumptions:

1. The model errors are normally distributed.

2. The model errors have a constant variance at all levels of the independent variable.
3. The model errors are independent of each other and represent a random sample from the
population of possible values at each level of x.

We first use the equation for the confidence interval estimate for the regression slope, as follows:

b1±t α / 2 s b1
where b1=0.124, s b1=2.88, α=.05
0.124±t .05/ 2 2.88
df =100−2=98
0.124±1.9841 2.88
0.124±5.714208
−5.5902−−−−−5.8382

Thus, for every one unit increase in the independent variable, x (age), the average speed changes by an
average amount between -5.5902 miles per hour (decreasing as age goes up) and 5.8382 miles per hour
(increasing as age goes up).

b)

Looking at the confidence interval, a slope of 0 is included in the possible values for the slope. Thus,
there is a chance that age and speed are not linearly related and thus we cannot conclude that they are
linearly related. The slope could be anywhere from -5.59 up to 5.83, which means the slope could be
zero. If the slope is zero, it also eliminates any effect the independent variable would have on the result
(because x*0=0), thus we cannot conclude that age and speed are linearly related in this situation.