Question: How about just a taste of that 5-alarm chili?

Imagine you are in charge of planning a San Ramon Regional Campus chili competition among several cooking teams. You want to make sure that there are enough plates of chili for all pre-paid tasters. The school has a total student body of 6,000. You have the following standards you must meet: a confidence level of 99%, and an error of less than 4 ounces per cooking team. Last year's competition had a standard deviation of 30 ounces for the amount of chili cooked.

a. What is the necessary minimum sample size?

b. How is the sample size impacted if we change our confidence level to 90%?

c. How is the sample size impacted if we change the error requirement to < 2 ounces per cooking team?

d. Explain how determining sample size for the campus chili competition represents statistical, financial and organizational challenges.