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Answers: Lab 4 Normal Distributions in Excel

This document provides instructions and examples for using Excel to work with normal distributions. It includes exercises to calculate probabilities using the NORMSDIST and NORMINV functions, check if sample data fits a normal distribution using a normal probability plot, and simulate normal data using the NORM.INV function. The examples show how to calculate percentiles, quartiles, and probabilities for normal distributions as well as check if speed data follows a normal distribution based on the shape of the normal probability plot.

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146 views

Answers: Lab 4 Normal Distributions in Excel

This document provides instructions and examples for using Excel to work with normal distributions. It includes exercises to calculate probabilities using the NORMSDIST and NORMINV functions, check if sample data fits a normal distribution using a normal probability plot, and simulate normal data using the NORM.INV function. The examples show how to calculate percentiles, quartiles, and probabilities for normal distributions as well as check if speed data follows a normal distribution based on the shape of the normal probability plot.

Uploaded by

Lex
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lab 4- Answers Normal Distributions in Excel

Normal Probabilities in Excel


If a Normal distribution has mean m and standard deviation s,

=NORM.DIST(x, m, s, TRUE) gives the probability P of getting a value


less than x;

=NORM.INV(P, m, s) gives the value of x which cuts off


probability P in the lower tail.

Exercise 1 Calculating probabilities


If X has a Normal distribution with mean 50 and s.d. 10, use Excel to calculate

(a) Pr(X<60) __0.8413__ (b) Pr(X>40) ____0.8413__ (c) Pr(55<X<58) 0.0967___

What are the quartiles of X? Q1: 43.255__ Q2: _50_____ Q3: _56.745___

Exercise 2 Testing Normality


The following data are the speeds (in mph) of a sample of 20 cars travelling on a main road:

55.4 47.9 67.5 70.2 21.4 50.9 55.0 96.7 82.1 59.9 mean=56.35
42.0 61.9 57.5 52.5 49.9 47.4 35.0 64.9 55.7 53.2 s.d.=15.99

We may want to check if the distribution looks normal. There are too few data to draw a histogram.

In the sample, what speed are 10% of cars doing less than or equal to? ___35.0__

What speed would 10% be less than in a Normal distribution with this mean and s.d.? _ 35.9_

If we do a similar calculation for 15%, 20%, 25% etc, we will be able to see how well the sample
speeds match their Normal equivalent values. The problem comes with 0% and 100%, because
the Normal distribution extends to infinity in both directions. To get around this we pretend
there are actually 21 data. Then the worst cases are that 1/21 of our data are less than or equal to
21.4 and 20/21 are less than or equal to 96.7.

To do these calculations in Excel:


1) Enter the speeds in A2:A21.
2) Calculate the mean in H1 and standard deviation in H2.
3) In B2 calculate the rank =RANK(A2,A$2:A$21,1) of the speed A2.
Copy down to B21.
4) In C2 calculate the fraction = B2/21 of the data less than or equal to the speed in A2, and
copy down
5) In D2 calculate the equivalent Normal speed =NORMINV(C2, H$1, H$2), and copy down
6) Now draw an XY (Scatter) plot of Column D against Column A.
This is the Normal Probability Plot and it should look like the one overleaf.

120MP Lab4
If the data matched their Normal equivalents perfectly, the plot would be the straight line “y = x”.

Do you think the speeds did follow a Normal distribution? __ No. It’s not straight ____

Exercise 3 Simulating Normality


To simulate an observation from a Normal distribution with mean M and standard deviation S, use
the Excel cell formula =NORM.INV( RAND( ), M, S ).
Assuming a Normal distribution, simulate the exam marks (out of 100) for a class of 80 students by
choosing sensible values for M and S. Do the marks look realistic?

120MP Lab4

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