Interval Estimate of

Population Mean
Workplan:
1. Routines
2. Review
3. Discussion
4. Wrap up
Try!
The average number of liters of fresh milk that a
person consumes in a month is 18 liters. Assume that
the sd is 4.5 liters and the distribution is
approximately normal.
a. Find the probability that a person selected at
random consumes more than 16 liters per month.
b. If a sample of 32 individuals is selected, find the
probability that the mean of the sample will be
more than 16 liters.
Parameter – describes the
population
Statistic – describes a portion of
the population
Estimation is the process of
estimating the value of a
parameter from information
drawn from a sample.
In other words, the objective of
estimation is to determine the
approximate value of a
population parameter on the
basis of a sample statistic.
We refer sample statistic as the
estimator of the population
parameter. The computed
sample statistic is called the
estimate.
We refer sample statistic as the
estimator of the population
parameter. The computed
sample statistic is called the
estimate.
 Confidence Intervals

A Confidence interval is a range

of values we are fairly sure our
true value lies in.
Example: Average Height

We measure the heights of 40

randomly chosen men, and get a
mean height of 175cm, we also
know the sd of men’s height is 20cm.
Example: Average Height

We measure the heights of 40

randomly chosen men, and get a
mean height of 175cm, we also
know the sd of men’s height is 20cm.
The 95% C.I is:
This says the true mean of ALL
men (if we could measure all
their heights) is likely to be
168.8cm and 181.2cm
The "95%" says that 95% of experiments like we
just did will include the true mean, but 5% won't.

So there is a 1-in-20 chance (5%) that our

Confidence Interval does NOT include the true
mean.
Calculating the C.I
Step 1: Find the value of the following:
n = 40
𝑥 = 175
σ = 20
Calculating the C.I
Step 2: Decide what confidence interval
we want: 95% or 99% are common
choices. Then find the z value for the
confidence interval .
Confidence
Z
Interval

80% 1.282

85% 1.440

90% 1.645

95% 1.960

99% 2.576

99.5% 2.807

99.9% 3.291
For 95% the z value is 1.960

Step 3. Use the z value in this formula for

the confidence interval:
𝝈
𝒙±𝒁 ∗
𝒏
For 95% the z value is 1.960

Step 3. Use the z value in this formula for

the confidence interval:
𝟐𝟎
𝟏𝟕𝟓 ± 𝟏. 𝟗𝟔𝟎 ∗
𝟒𝟎
For 95% the z value is 1.960

Step 3. Use the z value in this formula for

the confidence interval:
𝟏𝟕𝟓𝒄𝒎 ± 𝟔. 𝟐𝟎𝒄𝒎
 𝟏𝟕𝟓𝒄𝒎 ± 𝟔. 𝟐𝟎𝒄𝒎

The value after ± is called the margin of

error.
The margin of error determines
how reliable the survey is or how
reliable the results of
the experiment are.
Any survey takes a sample population from the
whole population and
then generalizes the results to the whole
population. This invariably leads to a possibility
of error because the whole can never be
accurately described by a part of it.
This is captured in statistics as margin
of error. The higher the margin of
error, the less likely it is that the
results of the survey are true for the
whole population.
Example 1: A survey of 30 households found
that the mean age of an LED TV is 4 years.
Assuming the standard deviation of the
population is 0.75 year. find the best point
estimate of the population mean and the 99%
interval of the population mean.
Given: x̄ = 4, σ = 0.75 n = 30.

Find the Confidence Interval:

𝟎.𝟕𝟓
𝟒 ± 𝟐. 𝟓𝟕𝟔 ∗ = 𝟒 ± 𝟎. 𝟑𝟓𝟐
𝟑𝟎
Thus, one can be 99% confident that the mean
age of LED TV is between 3.647 and 4.353,
based on 30 LED TV.
Find the 90% confidence interval of the
population mean for the incomes of executive
secretaries in Makati City. A random sample of
30 executive secretaries is shown. The data are
in thousands of pesos.
17.0 14.0 20.0 18.2 14.5 15.0 25.3 20.1 21.9 22.6

23.0 17.4 19.0 16.0 13.0 16.0 30.2 19.0 16.3 14.6

13.0 17.0 25.0 15.9 14.0 22.7 18.3 17.0 15.8 18.2
Step 1: Find the mean and SD

x̄= 18.3

σ = 4.07
Step 1: Find the mean and SD

x̄= 18.3

σ = 4.07
Step 2: Substitute in the formula

𝝈 𝟒. 𝟎𝟕
𝒙±𝒛∗ = 𝟏𝟖. 𝟑 ± 𝟏. 𝟔𝟒𝟓
𝒏 𝟑𝟎
𝟏𝟕. 𝟎𝟕𝟖 < µ < 𝟏𝟗. 𝟓𝟐𝟐
Sample size Determination
 Sample size determination is
very much related to estimation.
To get an accurate estimate we need
three things:
1. The maximum error of estimate.
2. Standard deviation
3. Degree of confidence
Formula for n = sample size
Margin of Error
σ = population SD
𝝈
E= 𝒛 E = margin of error
𝒏 Z = critical value
Solving for n formula (sample size
determination)

𝒛∙𝝈 𝟐
𝒏=
𝑬
Example:
Sir Luke wants to estimate the average number of hours
students spend playing Mobile Legends. The standard
deviation form a previous study is 4.5 hours. How large a
sample must be selected if he wants to be 95%
confident of finding whether the true mean differs from
the sample mean by 2.1 hours?
Since the confidence interval is 95%, therefore
the critical value is 1.960, σ = 4.5, and E = 2.1.

𝟐
𝟏. 𝟗𝟔𝟎 𝟒. 𝟓
𝒏= = 𝟏𝟕. 𝟔𝟒 𝒐𝒓 𝟏𝟖
𝟐. 𝟏
Therefore, to be 95% confident that the
estimate is within 2.1 hours of the true mean,
Sir Luke needs sample size of at least 18
students.
Try!
1. The Research Director of a certain university wants to replicate the result of the
study 10 years ago with a standard deviation of 0.12. He wants to estimate the
population mean to within an error of 0.03 of its true value. Using 95% confidence
level, what is the sample size that he needs?

2. The DepEd Supervisor of Region V wants to know the average monthly salary of
private elementary school teachers. Based on a previous study, it was found that
the SD OF THE SALARIES IS 2,500. How large must the sample that the Supervisor
should select if she wants to be 99% confident of finding whether the true mean
differs from the sample mean by 675?

3. A breadshop owner wishes to find the 95% confidence interval of true mean cost
of special brea. How large should the sample be if he wishes to be accurate within
₱8? As previous study showed that the standard deviation of the price was ₱12.