The following observations are lifetimes (days) subsequent to diagnosis for individuals suffering from blood cancer ("A Goodness of Fit Approach to the Class of Life Distributions with Unknown Age," Quality and Reliability Engr. Intl., 2012: 761-766): 115, 181, 255, 418, 441, 461, 516, 739, 743, 789, 807, 865, 924, 983, 1025, 1062, 1063, 1165, 1191, 1222, 1222, 1251, 1277, 1290, 1357, 1369, 1408, 1455, 1278, 1519, 1578, 1578, 1599, 1603, 1605, 1696, 1735, 1799, 1815, 1852, 1899, 1925, 1965. a) can a confidence interval for true average lifetime be calculated without assuming anything about the nature of the lifetime distribution? Explain your reasoning. [Note: A normal probability plot of data exhibits a reasonably linear pattern.]
b) Calculate and interpret a confidence interval with a 99% confidence level for true average lifetime. [Hint: mean=1191.6, s=506.6.]