Can I use assume a Normal Distribution to calculate a Confidence Interval for multiple random variables with different means and std each?

34 Views Asked by At

Let's say, I've a table with a list of trips I need to make this week and I want to calculate a confidence interval for the average trip duration time for all the trips I'll make in the week.

Var Trip name mean (minutes) std (minutes) Trips scheduled
A Home-University 15 3 5
B University-Home 19 4 3
C University-Work 5 1 2
D Work-Home 20 7 2

I know that E[X+Y] = E[X] + E[Y] And Var[X+Y] = Var[X] + Var[Y]

So the average trip duration given the data in the table must be: $$ \mu_{trip\ duration} = \frac{5(A.mean) + 3(B.mean) + 2(C.mean) + 2(D.mean)}{12}$$

And a similar formulation for the variance, but If I want to create a confidence interval should I assume that this distribution (the sum of all the trips) follows a normal distribution and then multiply the standard error by the z-score? or is it wrong to assume a normal distribution?