Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution

Objectives: Identify characteristics of a data set that is normally distributed Apply the empirical rule Compute z scores Use a table and z scores to find areas under the standard normal distribution

A. The Normal Distribution Video for A, B and example 1

A wide variety of quantities in the real world, like sizes of individuals in a population, IQ scores, and many others, tend to exhibit the same phenomenon, in which we see that the largest number have values somewhere in the middle of the range, and the classes further away from the center have smaller values. In fact, its so common that frequency distributions of this type came to be known as normal distributions. A normal distribution is a continuous, symmetric, bell-shaped distribution.

Some Properties of a Normal Distribution 1. It is bell-shaped. 2. The mean, median, and mode are equal and located at the center of the distribution. 3. It is unimodal (i.e., it has only one mode). 4. It is symmetrical about the mean, which is equivalent to saying that its shape is the same on both sides of a vertical line passing through the center. 5. It is continuousi.e., there are no gaps or holes. 6. The area under a portion of a normal curve is the percentage (in decimal form) of the data that falls between the data values that begin and end that region. 7. The total area under a normal curve is exactly 1. This makes sense based on property 6, since the area under the whole curve encompasses all data values.

Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution

B. The Empirical Rule

When data are normally distributed, approximately 68% of the values are within 1 standard deviation of the mean approximately 95% are within 2 standard deviations of the mean approximately 99.7% are within 3 standard deviations of the mean.

Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution

1. According to the website answerbag.com, the mean height for male humans is 5 feet 9.3 inches, with a standard deviation of 2.8 inches. If this is accurate, out of 1,000 randomly selected men, how many would you expect to be between 5 feet 6.5 inches and 6 feet 0.1 inch?

Video for A, B, and Example 1

2. A standard test of intelligence is scaled so that the mean IQ is 100, and the standard deviation is 15. If there are 40,000 people in a stadium, how many would you expect to have an IQ between 70 and 130?

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Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution

C. The Standard Normal DistributionVideo for C and #3, 4

The standard normal distribution is a normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1. The values under the curve shown indicate the proportion of area in each section.

Z Score
For a given data value from a data set that is normally distributed, we define that values z score to be

Da- e a le a tv m au n z Sa ein t dd t ar v n di o a
The z score is a measure of position: it describes how many standard deviations a data value lies above (if positive) or below (if negative) the mean. The value of z scores is that they will allow us to find areas under a normal curve using only areas under a standard normal curve, which can be read from a table, like this one. Use Appendix A to look up z-scores (page A-1) of textbook

Two Important Facts about the Standard Normal Curve

1. 2. The area under any normal curve is divided into two equal halves at the mean. Each of the halves has area 0.500. The area between z = 0 and a positive z score is the same as the area between z = 0 and the negative of that z score.

Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution Computing a z-score

3. According to the website answerbag.com, the mean height for male humans is 5 feet 9.3 inches, with a standard deviation of 2.8 inches. Find the z score for a man who is 6 feet 4 inches tall Video for C and #3, 4

4. A standard test of intelligence is scaled so that the mean IQ is 100, and the standard deviation is 15. Find the z score for a person with an IQ of 91.

Finding the Area Between Two Z Scores

5. Find the area under the standard normal distribution (a) Between z = 1.55 and z = 2.25. Video

(b) Between z = 0.60 and z = 1.35.

(c) Between z = 1.50 and z = 1.75.

Lesson 12-6 The Normal Distribution Finding the Area to the Rightof a z Score
6. Find the area under the standard normal distribution (a) To the right of z = 1.70.

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(b) To the right of z = 0.95.

Finding the Area to the Left of a z Score

7. Find the area under the standard normal distribution (a) To the left of z = 2.20.

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(b) To the left of z = 1.95.