Over the past several months, an adult patient has been treated for tetany (severe muscle spasms). This condition is associated with an average total calcium level below 6 mg/dl. Recently, the patient's total calcium tests gave the following readings (in mg/dl). Assume that the population of x values has an approximately normal distribution.

9.90 8.40 10.10 8.50 9.40 9.80 10.00 9.90 11.20 12.10

A button hyperlink to the SALT program that reads: Use SALT.

(a)

Use a calculator with mean and sample standard deviation keys to find the sample mean reading x and the sample standard deviation s. (Round your answers to four decimal places.)

x =

mg/dl

s =

mg/dl

(b)

Find a 99.9% confidence interval for the population mean of total calcium in this patient's blood. (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

lower limit

mg/dl

upper limit

mg/dl

(c)

Based on your results in part (b), do you think this patient still has a calcium deficiency? Explain.

Yes. This confidence interval suggests that the patient may still have a calcium deficiency.

Yes. This confidence interval suggests that the patient no longer has a calcium deficiency.

No. This confidence interval suggests that the patient may still have a calcium deficiency.

No. This confidence interval suggests that the patient no longer has a calcium deficiency.