A researcher is interested to determine the average age at which people obtain their first credit card. If past information shows a mean of 22 years and a standard deviation of 2 years, what size sample should be taken so that at 95% confidence the margin of error will be 3 months or less?

Respuesta :

Answer:

The sample size should be of at least 246.

Step-by-step explanation:

We have that to find our [tex]\alpha[/tex] level, that is the subtraction of 1 by the confidence interval divided by 2. So:

[tex]\alpha = \frac{1-0.95}{2} = 0.025[/tex]

Now, we have to find z in the Ztable as such z has a pvalue of [tex]1-\alpha[/tex].

So it is z with a pvalue of [tex]1-0.025 = 0.975[/tex], so [tex]z = 1.96[/tex]

The margin of error M is

[tex]M = z*\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]

In which [tex]\sigma[/tex] is the standard deviation of the population and n is the size of the sample.

In this problem, we have that:

[tex]\sigma = 2[/tex]

We want the margin of error to be of 3 months. However the standard deviation is in years. So the margin of error must be in years. So M = 3/12 = 0.25.

As n increases, the margin of error decreases. So we need a sample of size at least n when M = 0.25.

[tex]M = z*\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]

[tex]0.25 = 1.96*\frac{2}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]

[tex]0.25\sqrt{n} = 3.92[/tex]

[tex]\sqrt{n} = 15.68[/tex]

[tex]\sqrt{n}^{2} = (15.68)^{2}[/tex]

[tex]n = 246[/tex]

The sample size should be of at least 246.