Using the z-distribution, we have that:
The first step to solve this question, before building the confidence interval, is finding the sample mean, which is the sum of all observations divided by the number of observations. Hence:
[tex]\overline{x} = \frac{44.5+43.0+46.6+42.9+43.7+43.9+42.4+43.2+43.1+44.4+46.1+44.7+44.4+43.9+44.7}{15} = 44.1[/tex]
The margin of error of a z-confidence interval is given by:
[tex]M = z\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]
In which:
We have to find the critical value, which is z with a p-value of [tex]\frac{1 + \alpha}{2}[/tex], in which [tex]\alpha[/tex] is the confidence level.
In this problem, [tex]\alpha = 0.99[/tex], thus, z with a p-value of [tex]\frac{1 + 0.99}{2} = 0.995[/tex], which means that it is z = 2.575.
Then, the margin of error is:
[tex]M = z\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex]
[tex]M = 2.575\frac{1.2}{\sqrt{15}}[/tex]
[tex]M = 0.8[/tex]
The margin of error is of 0.8 in.
The interval is:
[tex]\overline{x} \pm M[/tex]
[tex]\overline{x} - M = 44.1 - 0.8 = 43.3[/tex]
[tex]\overline{x} + M = 44.1 + 0.8 = 44.9[/tex]
The interpretation is:
Mallorie is 99% sure that the mean hip measurement of size 16 jeans is between 43.3 in and 44.9 in.
A similar problem is given at https://brainly.com/question/25300297