Question

solve problems involving inferences and sample size and write about the solutions.
your school has received a grant to upgrade the school library. the librarians used a random sample of 50 students from the entire school. of the 50 students, 27 would like to see more laptops available for student use. what can be inferred from this information?
○ most students in the school would like to have more laptops available in the library.
○ exactly 46% of the students in the school would like to have an upgrade other than laptops for the library.
○ about half of the students want the grant money to be used to buy more laptops for student use.
○ students who use the library the most need more laptops.

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate sample percentage

First, find the percentage of students in the sample who want more laptops:
$\frac{27}{50} \times 100\% = 54\%$

Step2: Evaluate each option

• Option 1: 54% is a majority, so this is a valid inference.
• Option 2: 54% want laptops, so 46% want other upgrades, but we cannot say this applies exactly to the whole school (samples give estimates, not exact values).
• Option 3: 54% want laptops, which is not half, so this is incorrect.
• Option 4: The data only says students want more laptops in the library, not that library users need them most, so this is unsupported.

Answer:

Most students in the school would like to have more laptops available in the library.