When using Excel to derive margin of error, which function is appropriate if the population standard deviation (σ) is known?

When the population standard deviation (σ) is known, the appropriate function to derive the margin of error in Excel is the one that specifically utilizes the normal distribution rather than the t-distribution, since the known standard deviation allows us to use the properties of the normal distribution rather than the t-distribution, which is more appropriate for smaller sample sizes or when the standard deviation is unknown.

The function =CONFIDENCE.NORM(alpha,σ,n) is based on the normal distribution and takes into account the significance level (alpha), the population standard deviation (σ), and the sample size (n) to calculate the margin of error. This correctly reflects the situation where the population distribution is assumed to be normal, and it provides a direct measure of how sample size and variability affect the precision of confidence intervals.

In contrast, other functions either use the t-distribution or do not apply the known standard deviation correctly, hence they would not yield the proper margin of error under the specified conditions of this problem where σ is known.