Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.
Standard Deviation (σ)
Standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean, while a high standard deviation indicates that the values are spread out over a wider range. In this context, assuming σ = 3.5 minutes means that this is the expected variability in the time spent checking email.
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Calculating Standard Deviation
Sampling Distribution
The sampling distribution is the probability distribution of a statistic (like the sample mean) obtained from a large number of samples drawn from a specific population. Understanding this concept is crucial for making inferences about the population based on sample data, especially when comparing results under different assumptions, such as varying standard deviations.
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Sampling Distribution of Sample Proportion
Confidence Intervals
A confidence interval is a range of values, derived from a data set, that is likely to contain the value of an unknown population parameter. It provides an estimate of uncertainty around a sample statistic. In this question, comparing confidence intervals under different assumptions of standard deviation will help assess how the variability affects the precision of the estimates.
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Introduction to Confidence Intervals