Trade associations, such as the United Dairy Farmers Association, frequently conduct surveys to identify characteristics of their membership. If this organization conducted a survey to estimate the annual per-­capita consumption of milk and wanted to be 95% confident that the estimate was no more than 0.5 gallon away from the actual average, what sample size is needed? Past data have indicated that the standard deviation of consumption is approximately 6 gallons.

Answer :

Answer:

The sample size should be approximately 553 to have a margin of error of 0.5

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given the following in the question:

Population standard deviation = 6 gallons.

Margin of error  = 0.5

95% confidence interval:

[tex]\mu \pm z_{critical}\dfrac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]

Margin of error =

[tex]z_{critical}\dfrac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]

[tex]z_{critical}\text{ at}~\alpha_{0.05} = 1.96[/tex]

Putting the values, we get,

[tex]0.5 = 1.96\times \dfrac{6}{\sqrt{n}}\\\\\sqrt{n} = 1.96\times \dfrac{6}{0.5}\\\\n = (1.96)^2\times \dfrac{36}{0.25}\\\\n = 553.1904\\n \approx 553[/tex]

Thus, the sample size should be approximately 553 to have a margin of error of 0.5

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