Step 1 :Calculate the mean for Europe: \(\mu_1 = \frac{487+345+820+900+1385+1246+984}{7} = 881.6\)
Step 2 :Calculate the standard deviation for Europe: \(s_1 = \sqrt{\frac{(487-881.6)^2+(345-881.6)^2+(820-881.6)^2+(900-881.6)^2+(1385-881.6)^2+(1246-881.6)^2+(984-881.6)^2}{7-1}} = 367.3\)
Step 3 :Calculate the mean for Asia: \(\mu_2 = \frac{614+320+1137+722+830}{5} = 724.6\)
Step 4 :Calculate the standard deviation for Asia: \(s_2 = \sqrt{\frac{(614-724.6)^2+(320-724.6)^2+(1137-724.6)^2+(722-724.6)^2+(830-724.6)^2}{5-1}} = 293.3\)
Step 5 :Calculate the standard error of the difference between the two means: \(SE = \sqrt{\frac{s_1^2}{n_1} + \frac{s_2^2}{n_2}} = \sqrt{\frac{367.3^2}{7} + \frac{293.3^2}{5}} = 157.6\)
Step 6 :The 90% confidence interval for the difference of the means is given by \((\mu_1 - \mu_2) \pm (t*SE)\), where t is the t-value from the t-distribution table with degree of freedom df = min(n1, n2) - 1 = min(7, 5) - 1 = 4. For a 90% confidence level, t = 2.132.
Step 7 :Calculate the 90% confidence interval for the difference of the means: \((881.6 - 724.6) \pm (2.132*157.6) = 157.0 \pm 335.9\)
Step 8 :Therefore, the 90% confidence interval for the difference of the means is \(\boxed{(-178.9, 492.9)}\), rounded to one decimal place.