Statistics UNIT 6 THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION Notes 6.

1 Normal Distributions

The normal curve gives probabilities of events. The area under the curve gives the probability. There are two ways to find the area under the curve: 1. With calculus (integrals) * 2. With a chart or calculator (standard normal curve) To use the chart, you must know the z-score of the value(s) in question. z-score of a single piece of data x z= Illustration Find the area under the normal curve between the mean and z = 1.52.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve to the right of z = 1.52.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve to the left of z = 1.52.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve between the mean and z = 2.1.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve to the left of z = -1.35.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve between z = -1.5 and z = 2.1.

Illustration Find the area under the normal curve between z = 0.7 and z = 2.63.

Illustration What is the z-score associated with the 75th percentile? (Assume the distribution is normal.)

Illustration What z-scores bound the middle 95% of a normal distribution?

Statistics Notes 6.2 Applications of Normal Distributions Illustration Consider the intelligence quotient (IQ) scores for people. IQs are normally distributed with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 10. If a person is picked at random, what is the probability that his or her IQ is between 100 and 115; that is, what is P(100 < x < 115)?

Illustration Find the probability that a person selected at random will have an IQ greater than 95.

Illustration In a large class, suppose that your instructor tells you than you need to obtain a grade in the top 10% of your class to get an A on a particular exam. From past experience she is able to estimate that the mean and standard deviation on this exam will be 72 and 13, respectively. What will be the minimum grade needed to obtain an A? (Assume that the grades will be approximately normally distributed.)

Illustration Find the 33rd percentile for IQ scores (recall that = 100 and = 10).

Illustration The incomes of junior executives in a large corporation are normally distributed with a standard deviation of $1,200. A cutback is pending, at which time those who earn less than $28,000 will be discharged. If such a cut represents 10% of the junior executives, what is the current mean salary of the group of junior executives?

Statistics Notes 6.3 The Central Limit Theorem In addition to knowing how individual data values vary about the mean for a population, statisticians are also interested in knowing about the distribution of the means of samples taken from a population. A sampling distribution of sample means is a distribution obtained by using the means computed from random samples of a specific size taken from a population. Ex. Suppose a professor gave an 8-point quiz to a small group of 4 students. The results of the quiz were 2, 4, 6, and 8. Find the mean of the population (class). Find the standard deviation of the population (class). Find the sampling distribution of sample means, if samples of size 2 are taken.

Properties of the Sampling Distribution of Sample Means are explained by The Central Limit Theorem. Central Limit Theorem 1. The mean of the sampling distribution of sample means is equal to the mean of the population. ( x = ). 2. The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of sample means (standard error of the mean) is equal to the standard deviation of the population divided by the square root of n. ( x = ). n 3. As the sample size n increases, the shape of the distribution of the sample means taken from a population will approach a normal distribution. Example of the Distribution becoming Approximately Normal

When using the Central Limit Theorem, remember two things: 1. When the original variable is normally distributed, the distribution of the sample means will be normally distributed for any sample size n. 2. When the distribution of the original variable departs from normality, a sample size of 30 or more is needed to use the normal distribution as an approximation for the distribution of sample means. The larger the sample, the better the approximation will be.

Ex.

The average amount of a purchase at a newsstand is $2.12. The standard deviation is $0.45. If 25 customers purchase items at the stand, find the probability that the mean of the purchases is greater than $2.30. Assume that the distribution is normal.

Ex.

The average lifetime of smoke alarms manufactured by a company is 60 months with a standard deviation of 12 months. If a sample of 36 smoke alarms is selected, find the probability that the mean of the sample will be between 57 and 62 months.

Ex.

The average number of pounds of meat a person consumes in a year is 218.4 pounds. Assume that the standard deviation is 25 pounds and the distribution is approximately normal. If a person is selected at random, find the probability that a person consumes less than 224 pounds per year. If a sample of 40 individuals is selected, find the probability that the mean of the sample will be less than 224 pounds per year.