AP Statistics

Practice: Creating Confidence Intervals

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1. Using a t-table, find the critical t-value needed for each of the following.
A. A 99% confidence interval based on a sample size of 30
B. A 95% confidence interval based on a sample size of 15
C. A 95% confidence interval based on a sample size of 25
D. A 99% confidence interval based on a sample size of 18
E. A 90% confidence interval based on a sample size of 23
2. Using your graphing calculator, find the necessary critical t-value for each of the
following.
A. A 95% confidence interval based on a sample size of 25
B. A 99% confidence interval based on a sample size of 30
C. A 95% confidence interval based on a sample size of 35
D. A 90% confidence interval based on a sample size of 50
E. A 95% confidence interval based on a sample size of 40
3. A supermarket wants to know how many people use the express checkout. In a single
week, researchers record how many people use the express checkout during ten
separate one-hour periods and come up with these totals: 54, 45, 35, 38, 43, 45, 52,
36, 48, and 50. Find a 95% confidence interval for the mean number of people who use
the express checkout per hour.
4. A supermarket is interested in how long its customers wait in line in the express
checkout lanes. Ten customers are observed and the following wait times are recorded
(in minutes): 8, 12, 5, 11, 10, 9, 3, 5, 7, and 6. Find a 90% confidence interval for the
mean wait time in the express lanes.
5. A weight-loss clinic wants to have an idea of how long it's taking its clients to reach their
target weight. Researchers take a random sample of clients and record the following
data (in months): 12, 18, 6, 17, 25, 24, 27, 15, 9, 14, 12, 24, 20, 15, and 21. Find a
99% confidence interval for the mean number of months it takes a client of this
weight-loss clinic to reach their target weight.

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AP Statistics
Creating Confidence Intervals
TI-83 and TI-84 Calculator Instructions

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The t-Distributions
The Central Limit Theorem says that if your sample size is large, the distribution of a
statistic (its sampling distribution) will be normal and will have the standard deviation

. But in the real world, you usually don't know and must estimate it using s, the

sample standard deviation. Thus the measure of spread for a statistic is

s
n

, and is

referred to as the standard error instead of the standard deviation.

The following are characteristics of the tdistributions:

There's a different t-distribution for each sample size n.

t-distributions are distinguished by degrees of freedom

(degrees of freedom = n 1).

The t-distributions resemble the normal distribution but, due to the additional
variability inherent in using a sample, have more area in their tails.

For large n (which is usually understood to be n > 30 or so) a t-distribution is

very close to the normal distribution.

The t-distributions are robust, which means they work well even when the
distribution isn't normal (as long as it's not strongly skewed and doesn't have
outliers).

t-Confidence Intervals
Generating a t-interval is analogous to generating a z-interval. To calculate a confidence
interval for the population mean with confidence level C, use
s
where t* is the critical tvalue for n 1 degrees of
x (t*) ( s x ) = x t*
n
freedom.
You can calculate t-intervals on a graphing calculator, but you do need to know the general
form for constructing t-intervals so you can interpret your results.
Significance Tests
Doing a significance test with a t-distribution is analogous to doing one with a normal
distribution, except you use a t-statistic instead of a z-statistic. To compute the t-statistic
for your sample, use

_____________

t = x where s is the sample standard deviation, or

s n

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(x x )2
n 1

AP Statistics
Creating Confidence Intervals
TI-83 and TI-84 Calculator Instructions

Page 2 of 5

Finding Areas and Critical tValues

You can find critical tvalues in a t-distribution directly by using a table or indirectly by
using a graphing calculator. Similarly, you can find areas (probabilities, or S-values) for the
W-distribution directly by using tcdf on your calculator or indirectly by using a table. You'll
probably find that a t-table is better for finding critical t-values and that for finding Svalues from t-statistics it's easier to use a calculator.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Computing a t-Statistic and a S-Value

You have the following information for the hypothesis test H0 : = 20, H a : 20
based on a random sample with n = 30, s = 3.4, x = 22.4.
A. Compute a test statistic.
B. Compute a S-value based on this test statistic.
Answers
A. The answer is: t = 3.87.
x 22.4 20
2.4
t =
=
=
= 3.87
.6208
s n
3.4 30
B. The answer is P = .0006.
Use your graphing calculator to give you the area under the curve for the tdistributions.
Since this test is two-tailed, this can be computed in one of two ways:
1. Use your TI-83 or TI-84 to compute 2(P(t > 3.87)) = 2(tcdf(3.87,E99,29)).
(E99 is used here as the upper bound, but any large number will work.)
2. Use your TI-83 or TI-84 to compute 1 tcdf(3.87,3.87,29).
Example 2: Finding Critical t-Values

You have a sample of size 27. Find:

A. The critical tvalue for a 95% confidence interval. Use a table.
B. The critical t-value for a 99% confidence interval. Use your graphing calculator.
C. The critical t-value for a one-sided hypothesis test with = .05.
Answers
A. Find the row for df = n 1 = 27 1 = 26. Move over until you're in the column with
the upper tail area you're interested in. In this case, a 95% confidence interval is
two-sided, so we're interested in .025. The value at this intersection is 2.056.

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AP Statistics
Creating Confidence Intervals
TI-83 and TI-84 Calculator Instructions

Page 3 of 5

B. On your calculator, press STAT. Cursor over to TESTS, scroll down to TInterval and
press ENTER. Cursor over to Stats and press ENTER. Enter these settings: x = 0,

Sx = df + 1 , n = df + 1 and C-Level = confidence level. So the values in this case

would be x = 0, Sx = 27 , n = 27 and C-Level = .99. Cursor down to CALCULATE

and press ENTER. The upper bound of your interval is your critical t-value. In this
case, t* = 2.779.
C. Using a table:
Find df = n 1 = 26 in the right-hand column. Move over until you're in the column
with the upper tail area = .05. The critical tvalue at this intersection is 1.706. Since
this is a one-sided test, we used the column that had all the area in one tail (as
opposed to example A, where we were looking for half the area in each tail).

Using your calculator:

Follow the instructions from B, except your confidence level is now
1 2 = .90 because we want all that area in one tail. The upper bound given by
your TI-83 or TI-84 is 1.706, the same value we got by using the table.
Example 3: Calculating t-Confidence Intervals, Finding t* Indirectly Using a
TI-83 or TI-84 Graphing Calculator

A teacher has the following random sample of grades on a test: 89, 74, 79, 85, 83, 88,
77, 90, 85, and 80.
A. Calculate a 95% confidence interval for this sample by hand.
B. Find a 99% confidence interval for this sample using your graphing calculator.
C. Redo question B, but pretend you only know n, s and the confidence interval. Find t*
without using your table.
Answers
A. The answer is: (79.16, 86.84).

t* = 2.262, x = 83 , s = 5.37, n = 10

5.37
s
= 83 3.84 = (79.16, 86.84)
= 83 2.262
x t*

n
10
B. The answer is: (77.476, 88.524).

Store data in a list, then press STAT , cursor over to TESTS, choose TInterval and
press ENTER. Cursor to DATA and press ENTER. Enter the list name and .99 as the
C-Level. Arrow to CALCULATE and press ENTER. You'll get the interval (77.476,
88.524).

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AP Statistics
Creating Confidence Intervals
TI-83 and TI-84 Calculator Instructions

Page 4 of 5

C. The answer is: t* = 3.25.

Find the length of the interval by subtracting the lower bound from the upper bound
and dividing by 2:
88.524 77.476 = 11.048
11.048/2 = 5.524
Set up an equation where this number equal to the margin of error and solve for t*:

5.37
s
= t*(1.698)
= t*
5.524 = t*

n
10
t* =

5.524
3.25
1.698

Finding Desired Sample Sizes

For a typical introductory statistics course, you don't need to know how to find the
desired sample size for a given margin of error when you don't know t*.
If you look at the z-formula for the minimum sample size necessary to reach a desired
confidence level with a given margin of error, which is
2

z *
n=
,
m
you might assume that for instances where the population standard deviation is
unknown you can simply replace z* with t* and with s. There's a problem with doing
this, however: You have to know n in order to get the degrees of freedom needed to find
t*, but you don't know n because n is what you're trying to find! In the real world,
statisticians use previous research to estimate , but this can get complicated. The
bottom line is: You don't need to know how to do this for a basic stats course.

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