An 1868 paper by German physician Carl Wunderlich reported, based on over a mill

ID: 2923254 • Letter: A

Question

An 1868 paper by German physician Carl Wunderlich reported, based on over a million body

temperature readings, that healthy-adult body temperatures are approximately Normal with mean =

98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) and standard deviation = 0.6°F. This is still the most widely quoted

result for human temperature.

(a)According to this study, what is the range of body temperatures that can be found in 95% of

healthy adults? (We are looking for the middle 95% of the adult population.)

(b)A more recent study suggests that healthy-adult body temperatures are better described by

an N(98.2, 0.7) distribution. Based on this later study, what is the range of values representing the

95% most common body temperatures in healthy adults? Compare this range with the one you

obtained in (a).

a) for 95% CI ; z=1.96

hence middle 95% of the adult population interval =mean -/+ z*std deviation =98.6 -/+ 1.96*0.6 =97.424 ; 99.776

range of values representing the 95% most common body temperatures=mean -/+ z*std deviation =

=98.2 -/+ 1.96*0.7 =96.828 ; 99.572

this interval is wider due to higher variance as well has lower interval values due to lower mean then previous study.

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