(a) For a confidence level of $96 \%$, find the critical value $z_{\alpha / 2}$. Round your answer to 2 places after the decimal point. \[ z_{\alpha / 2}= \]

Step 1 ：The critical value \(z_{\alpha / 2}\) is a value on the standard normal distribution for which the area under the curve to the right of that value equals \(\alpha / 2\).

Step 2 ：In this case, the confidence level is \(96 \%\), so \(\alpha = 1 - 0.96 = 0.04\).

Step 3 ：Therefore, we need to find the value \(z_{\alpha / 2}\) such that the area to the right of \(z_{\alpha / 2}\) is \(0.04 / 2 = 0.02\).

Step 4 ：Using the inverse of the cumulative distribution function (CDF), we find that \(z_{\alpha / 2} = 2.0537489106318225\).

Step 5 ：Rounding to two decimal places, the critical value \(z_{\alpha / 2}\) for a confidence level of \(96 \%\) is approximately \(\boxed{2.05}\).