In a 2020 survey of 80 graduate economists and 110 graduate programmers, it was found that the graduate economists had a mean starting salary of 48,100 with a standard deviation of 7,200, while the graduate programmers had a mean starting salary of 52,900 with a standard deviation of 5,300.

a) Find a point estimate for the difference in average starting salaries for graduate economists and programmers. b) Let m1 be the population mean starting salary for the graduate economists and let m2 be the population mean salary for the graduate programmers. Find a 96% confidence interval for m1m2. Assume the standard deviations given are the population standard deviations.

c) Based on the interval in part (b), would you be comfortable saying that the mean starting salary for graduate economists is less than that for graduate programmers? Justify your answer.