Question

Over the past several months, an adult patient has been treated for tetany (severe muscle spasms). This condition is associated with an average total calcium level below 6 mg/dl. Recently, the patient's total calcium tests gave the following readings (in mg/dl). Assume that the population of x values has an approximately normal distribution. 9.1 9.6 10.1 8.5 9.4 9.8 10.0 9.9 11.2 12.1

(a) Use a calculator with mean and sample standard deviation keys to find the sample mean reading x and the sample standard deviation s. (Round your answers to two decimal places.)

x = mg/dl

s = mg/dl

(b) Find a 99.9% confidence interval for the population mean of total calcium in this patient's blood. (Round your answer to two decimal places.) lower limit mg/dl upper limit mg/dl

(c) Based on your results in part (b), do you think this patient still has a calcium deficiency? Explain.

Yes. This confidence interval suggests that the patient may still have a calcium deficiency.

Yes. This confidence interval suggests that the patient no longer has a calcium deficiency.

No. This confidence interval suggests that the patient may still have a calcium deficiency.

No. This confidence interval suggests that the patient no longer has a calcium deficiency

Answer 1

The statistical software output for this problem is:

Hence,

a) x = 9.97 mg/dL

s = 1.03 mg/dL

b) 99.9% confidence interval:

Lower limit = 8.42 mg/dL

Upper limit = 11.52 mg/dL

c) No. This confidence interval suggests that the patient no longer has a calcium deficiency.