Chapter 17, Problem 30E

Carpal tunnel The painful wrist condition called carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated with surgery or, less invasively, with wrist splints. Recently, Time magazine reported on a study of 176 patients. Among the half that had surgery, 80% showed improvement after three months, but only 48% of those who used the wrist splints improved.

1. a) What’s the standard error of the difference in the two proportions?
2. b) Construct a 95% confidence interval for this difference.
3. c) State an appropriate conclusion.