An interesting and popular hypothesis is that individuals can temporarily postpone their death to survive a major holiday or important event such as a birthday. In a study of this phenomenon, it was found that in the week before and the week after Thanksgiving, there were 12,000 total deaths, and 6062 of them occurred in the week before Thanksgiving (based on data from “Holidays, Birthdays, and Postponement of Cancer Death,” by Young and Hade, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 292, No. 24.)

a. What is the best point estimate of the proportion of deaths in the week before Thanksgiving to the total deaths in the week before and the week after Thanksgiving?

b. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the proportion of deaths in the week before Thanksgiving to the total deaths in the week before and the week after Thanksgiving.

c. Based on the result, does there appear to be any indication that people can temporarily postpone their death to survive the Thanksgiving holiday? Why or why not?