Problem-Solving and Data AnalysisVery hardInterpreting a confidence interval correctly
Problem-Solving and Data Analysis practice question
A random sample of a city's households gives a 95% confidence interval of 2.4 to 2.8 for the mean number of people per household. Which of the following is the most appropriate interpretation?
- A. It is plausible that the mean number of people per household in the city is between 2.4 and 2.8.Correct
- B. 95% of the city's households have between 2.4 and 2.8 people.
- C. Every household in the sample has between 2.4 and 2.8 people.
- D. The mean for the city is certainly between 2.4 and 2.8.
Answer: A. It is plausible that the mean number of people per household in the city is between 2.4 and 2.8.
A confidence interval gives a range of plausible values for the population MEAN, with some uncertainty.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. 95% of the city's households have between 2.4 and 2.8 people.
- The interval is about the mean, not about individual households (which have whole numbers of people).
- C. Every household in the sample has between 2.4 and 2.8 people.
- No household has 2.4 people; the interval describes the mean.
- D. The mean for the city is certainly between 2.4 and 2.8.
- A confidence interval is not a certainty; the true mean can lie outside it.
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