CONFIDENCE INTERVALS ACTIVITY

For this activity well use the Weather Undergrounds page of weather data found at
http://www.wunderground.com/. The Weather Underground was created by a
student/professor team at the University of Michigan and shortly thereafter became a
public company providing current and historical weather data for the United States and
other countries. At the top of the Weather Underground home page you will find a box
for entering the name of a city, state or country. Enter your home city or a favorite city to
see the current weather conditions there.

Click the drop-down menu for More and youll see Historical Weather. For
example, the data on June 1, 2002 for New Orleans, LA looks like:
Mean Temperature 81oF
Max Temperature 92oF
Min Temperature 70oF
Experiment with this feature until you are comfortable with finding historical weather
data.

Now select your home city or a city of your choice and see what years of data are
Bountiful
available for that city. City: _________________________

April
Select which month of the year youll be sampling from: Month: _________________

Use a random number generator to randomly select a year in that range and a day of the
month. Record the high temperature for your city on that day in your selected month.
Repeat the process until you have a random sample of 30 high temperatures.

Sample Date High Temperature Sample Date High Temperature

1 4/01/11 76F 16 4/16/96 64F
2 4/02/83 50F 17 4/17/87 85F
3 4/03/42 73 F 18 4/18/47 72F
4 4/04/98 52F 19 4/19/62 66F
5 4/05/07 67F 20 4/20/44 63F
6 4/06/16 63F 21 4/21/94 85 F
7 4/07/17 70F 22 4/22/07 55 F
8 4/08/77 81F 23 4/23/14 53 F
9 4/09/08 46F 24 4/24/14 67 F
10 4/10/86 59F 25 4/25/01 70 F
11 4/11/66 60F 26 4/26/10 85 F
12 4/12/34 80F 27 4/27/69 59 F
13 4/13/59 72F 28 4/28/93 61F
14 4/14/04 66F 29 4/29/68 78F
15 4/15/92 70F 30 4/30/63 65F
 CONFIDENCE INTERVALS ACTIVITY

1. Compute a 95% confidence interval estimate for the mean high temperature for your
city for your chosen month. Write your interval in the form mean margin of error
and include a sentence interpreting your interval.
67.1 3.93
I am 95% confident that the mean high temperature for bountiful lies between 63.17 and 71.03 degree's Fahrenheit.
Method used: Using Ti-84 enter data into L1 then test the T intercal at C-Level .95

2. Why did we select a random sample of size 30? Briefly discuss.

We selected a random sample size of 30 because the minimum required
sample size required for a TTest is 30.

3. Now compute a 99% confidence interval estimate for the mean high temperature for
your city for your chosen month. Write your interval in the form mean margin of
error and include a sentence interpreting your interval.

67.1 5.29
I am 99% confident that the mean high temperature for bountiful lies between 61.81 and 72.39 degree's Fahrenheit.
Method used: Using Ti-84 enter data into L1 then test the T interval at C-Level .99

4. Briefly compare your intervals what has changed and why?

The margin of error increased by 1.36 degrees when we increase the confidence level from 95% to 99%.
Thus we can be more accurate with our prediction.

|
|
|
63.17F | 71.03F
|-------------------------------------------|
| | 95% Confidence Level | |
|_________________________ |__________________________|
| 99% Confidence Level |
|____________________________________________________|
| | |
| | |
61.81F 67.1F 72.39F