Researchers are interested in the effect of a certain nutrient on the growth rate of plant seedlings. Using a hydroponics grow procedure that utilized water containing the nutrient, they planted six tomato plants and recorded the heights of each plant 14 days after germination. Those heights, measured in millimeters, were as follows: 55.5, 60.3, 60.6, 62.1, 65.5, 69.2.
a. Find a point estimate of the population mean height of this variety of seedling 14 days after germination.
b. A method that we’ll study in Section 8.3 provides a margin of error of 4.9 mm for a 95% confidence interval for the population mean height. Construct that interval.
c. Use this example to explain why a point estimate alone is usually insufficient for statistical inference.