Question

1. your friend states in a report that the average time required for a car to circle a 2.4 km track was 65.414 s. this was measured by timing 7 laps using a clock with a precision of 0.1 s. how much confidence do you have in the results of the report? explain.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze precision of measuring device

The clock has a precision of 0.1 s. But the result is reported to 3 decimal - places (65.414 s), which is more precise than the measuring device allows.

Step2: Consider number of measurements

Only 7 laps were timed. A small number of measurements may not give a very accurate average. With a small sample size, random errors may have a larger impact on the result.

Answer:

Low confidence. The reported time has more precision than the measuring device allows, and the number of laps timed (sample size) is small, which may lead to significant random - error effects on the average value.