A 95 percent confidence interval for the mean time, in minutes, for a volunteer fire company to respond to emergency incidents is determined to be (2.8, 12.3). Which of the following is the best interpretation of the interval?

The confidence interval only refers to the confidence in the mean response time. Therefore, any options referring to any particular response time would be incorrect.

The confidence interval tells you the likelihood that the actual mean time would fall within the interval.

The third option is tempting, but it doesn't make sense to say 95 percent of the time since there is only one actual population mean. We can't really say 95 percent of one event. But we can say that given the population mean, there is a 95% chance (or confidence) it lands in the interval.