The article “Hospitals Dispute Medtronic Data on Wires” (The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2010) describes several studies of the failure rate of defibrillators used in the treatment of heart problems. In one study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, it was reported that failures were experienced within the first 2 years by 18 of 89 patients under 50 years old and 13 of 362 patients age 50 and older who received a particular type of defibrillator. Assume it is reasonable to regard these two samples as representative of patients in the two age groups who receive this type of defibrillator.
a. Construct and interpret a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of patients under 50 years old who experience a failure within the first 2 years after receiving this type of defibrillator.
b. Construct and interpret a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of patients age 50 and older who experience a failure within the first 2 years after receiving this type of defibrillator.
c. Suppose that the researchers wanted to estimate the proportion of patients under 50 years old who experience a failure within the first 2 years after receiving this type of defibrillator to within .03 with 95% confidence. How large a sample should be used? Use the results of the study as a preliminary estimate of the population proportion.