The average U.S. household has $178,600 in life insurance. A local insurance agent would like to see how households in his city compare to the national average, and selects a simple random sample of 30 households from the city. For households in the sample, the average amount of life insurance is x̅ = $188,800, with s = $25,500.

a. Using a non directional hypothesis test and a level of significance of your choice, what conclusion would be reached?

b. For the significance level used in part (a), construct the appropriate confidence interval and verify the conclusion reached in part (a).