1.

For the population of females between the ages of 3 and 74 who participated in the
National Health Interview Survey, the distribution of hemoglobin levels averaged 13.3
g/dl with standard deviation 1.12 g/dl. The units here are measured in grams per deciliter
(g/dl). Assume that the distribution of individual hemoglobin levels is roughly symmetric
(not heavily skewed). Suppose you repeatedly select samples of 30 females from the
population, and for each sample you compute the sample mean hemoglobin level.
Suppose you select a very large number of these samples, each of size 30.
a.) What would be the approximate mean of the sample means?
The approximate sample mean would be the same as the population mean.
That is:
x==13.3 g /dL
b.) What would be the approximate standard deviation of the sample means?
The approximate standard deviation would be equal to the standard error:
=SE=

s 1.12
=
=0.20 4 g /dL
n 30

c.) Is the standard deviation of (b.) different from the standard deviation of hemoglobin
levels in individuals? How is it different?
Yes, the standard deviation of the sampling distribution will be smaller the
standard deviation of the individual samples.
d.) Describe the shape of the histogram that would result from the very large number of
sample means selected. Explain how you know the shape. (Note: The histogram would
be an approximation to the sampling distribution of the sample mean. The sampling
distribution is what this histogram would become if we selected an infinite number of
random samples, each time observing a sample mean.)
The histogram would follow a bell curve, or a normal distribution if we plotted
sample mean versus frequency for an infinitely large number of samples each
with 30 people. This is predicted by the central limit theorem.
e.) What proportion of these sample means will be greater than 13.012 g/dl?
Z = (13.012 13.3)/0.204 = -1.408
P(Z > -1.408) = 0.920
f.) What proportion of these sample means will be less than 12.883 g/dl?
Z = (12.883 13.3)/0.204 = -2.039
P(Z < -2.039) = 0.021
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g.) What proportion of these sample means will be between 12.9 g/dl and 13.5 g/dl?
Z = (12.9 13.3)/0.204 = -1.956
Z = (13.5 13.3)/0.204 = 0.978
1 x / 2
e
dx= 0.811
2
2

0.978

P(1.956<Z <0.978)=

1.956

h.) Now suppose a researcher selects a single random sample of size 30 from the
population of women aged 3 to 74, and measured hemoglobin levels in each subject. She
observes a sample mean hemoglobin level of 13.42 g/dl. Assuming that she knows that
the population standard deviation of hemoglobin levels is 1.12 g/dl*, construct a 95%
confidence interval for the mean hemoglobin level for all women in this age group.
SE=

s 1.12
=
=0.204 g /d L
n 30

95% CI = 13.42 (1.960)(0.204) = (13.02, 13.82)

i.) Does the interval constructed in (h.) contain the population mean of = 13.3 g/dl?
Would the researcher know that her interval contains ?
Yes, it does in this case. However, without further sampling the researcher
does NOT know the population mean () for certain, and only knows that that
there is a 95% chance is lies within this interval.
2. When eight persons in Massachusetts experienced vitamin D intoxication that required
hospitalization, patient blood levels of calcium and albumin were recorded. The data
follow: Calcium (mmol/l) 2.92 3.84 2.37 2.99 2.67 3.17 3.74 3.44 Albumin (g/l) 43 42 42
40 42 38 34 42
a.) Construct a 95% confidence interval for the mean blood calcium level of all patients
hospitalized for vitamin D intoxication.
Mean = 3.14
SD = 0.51
SE = 0.51/sqrt(8) = 0.18
95% CI = 3.14 (1.960)(0.18) = (2.79, 3.50)
b.) Now construct a 99% confidence interval for the mean blood calcium level of all
patients hospitalized for vitamin D intoxication. Is your interval in (b.) wider or narrower
than that in (a.)?
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Mean = 3.14
SD = 0.51
SE = 0.51/sqrt(8) = 0.18
99% CI = 3.14 (2.57)(0.18) = (2.68, 3.61)
The 99% interval will be WIDER
c.) Suppose researchers want to estimate the lower bound for mean Albumin level with
95% confidence. Construct the appropriate confidence interval.
Mean = 40.38
SD = 3.02
SE = 3.02/sqrt(8) = 1.07
99% CI = 40.38 (1.960)(1.07) = (38.28, 42.47)

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