Students may choose between a 3-semester-hour course in physics without labs and a 4-semester-hour course with labs. The final written examination is the same for each section. If 12 students in the section with labs made an average grade of 84 with a standard deviation of 4, annd 18 students in the section without labs made an average grade of 77 with a standard deviation of 6, find a 99% confidence interval for the difference between the average grades for the two courses. Assume the populations to be approximately normally distributed with equal variances.
Attempt:
\(
\nu = \frac{(s_1^2/n_1 + s_2^2/n_2)^2}{[(s_1^2/n_1)^2/(n_1-1)] + [(s_2^2/n_2)^2/(n_2-1)]} = \frac{(16/12 + 36/18)^2}{[(16/12)^2/11] + [(36/18)^2/17]} = 27.99
\)
\(\nu=28\) gives a t-value of 2.763 when leaving 0.005 to the right.
\(
7-2.763 sqrt{\frac{s_1^2}{n_1} +\frac{s_2^2}{n_2}} < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 7 + 2.763 sqrt{\frac{s_1^2}{n_1} +\frac{s_2^2}{n_2}}
\)
\(
1.96 < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 12.04
\)
According to my book, the correct answer is
\(
1.5 < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 12.5
\)
Have I made a mistake somewhere?
Attempt:
\(
\nu = \frac{(s_1^2/n_1 + s_2^2/n_2)^2}{[(s_1^2/n_1)^2/(n_1-1)] + [(s_2^2/n_2)^2/(n_2-1)]} = \frac{(16/12 + 36/18)^2}{[(16/12)^2/11] + [(36/18)^2/17]} = 27.99
\)
\(\nu=28\) gives a t-value of 2.763 when leaving 0.005 to the right.
\(
7-2.763 sqrt{\frac{s_1^2}{n_1} +\frac{s_2^2}{n_2}} < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 7 + 2.763 sqrt{\frac{s_1^2}{n_1} +\frac{s_2^2}{n_2}}
\)
\(
1.96 < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 12.04
\)
According to my book, the correct answer is
\(
1.5 < \mu_1 - \mu_2 < 12.5
\)
Have I made a mistake somewhere?
Last edited: