Diagnostic Tests: Uric Acid Overproduction of uric acid in the body can be an indication of cell breakdown. This may be an advance indication of illness such as gout, leukemia, or lymphoma (Reference: Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests by F. Fischbach). Over a period of months, an adult male patient has taken eight blood tests for uric acid. The mean concentration was x = 5.35 mg/dl. The distribution of uric acid in healthy adult males can be assumed to be normal, with σ = 1.85 mg/dl. (a) Find a 95% confidence interval for the population mean concentration of uric acid in this patient's blood. What is the margin of error? (b) What conditions are necessary for your calculations? (c) Interpret your results in the context of this problem. (d) Sample Size Find the sample size necessary for a 95% confidence level with maximal margin of error E = 1.10 for the mean concentration of uric acid in this patient's blood.

Definition Definition Measure of central tendency that is the average of a given data set. The mean value is evaluated as the quotient of the sum of all observations by the sample size. The mean, in contrast to a median, is affected by extreme values. Very large or very small values can distract the mean from the center of the data. Arithmetic mean: The most common type of mean is the arithmetic mean. It is evaluated using the formula: μ = 1 N ∑ i = 1 N x i Other types of means are the geometric mean, logarithmic mean, and harmonic mean. Geometric mean: The nth root of the product of n observations from a data set is defined as the geometric mean of the set: G = x 1 x 2 ... x n n Logarithmic mean: The difference of the natural logarithms of the two numbers, divided by the difference between the numbers is the logarithmic mean of the two numbers. The logarithmic mean is used particularly in heat transfer and mass transfer. ln x 2 − ln x 1 x 2 − x 1 Harmonic mean: The inverse of the arithmetic mean of the inverses of all the numbers in a data set is the harmonic mean of the data. 1 1 x 1 + 1 x 2 + ...