Continuous

Distributions
Continuous random variables
• Are numerical variables
whose values fall within a
range or interval
• Are measurements
• Can be described by
density curves
 Density curves
• Is always on or above the
horizontal axis
• Has an area exactly equal to one
underneath it
• Often describes an overall
distribution
• Describe what proportions of the
observations fall within each range
of values
 Unusual density curves
• Can be any shape
• Are generic continuous
distributions
• Probabilities are calculated
by finding the area under
the curve
 .5

How do you find

.25 the area of a
triangle?

1 2 3 4 5

2.25 
P(X < 2) =  .25
2
 .5
What is the
area of a line
.25
segment?

1 2 3 4 5

P(X = 2) = 0
P(X < 2) = .25
In continuous
distributions,
P(X < 2) & P(X < 2)
areHmmmm…
the same
answer.
Is this different
than discrete
distributions?
 .5
Shape is a
trapezoid –

b1How
= .5long are the
.25
bases?

b2 = .375
Area 
b1  b2 h
1 2
h = 1
3 4 5
2
P(X > 3) = .5(.375+.5)(1)=.4375
P(1 < X < 3) =.5(.125+.375)(2) =.5
0.50
P(X > 1) = .75

.5(2)(.25) = .25
0.25

(2)(.25) = .5

1 2 3 4
 P(0.5 < X < 1.5) = .28125
0.50

.5(.25+.375)(.5)
0.25 = .15625
(.5)(.25) = .125

1 2 3 4
Special Continuous
Distributions
 Uniform Distribution
• Is a continuous distribution that is
evenly (or uniformly) distributed
• Has a density curve in the shape of a
rectangle
• Probabilities are calculated by finding
the area under the curve
a b
x  How do ayou
2 Where: & bfind the
are the
area
endpoints ofof
thea
2 b a 2
x  rectangle?
uniform distribution
12
The Citrus Sugar Company packs sugar in
bags labeled 5 pounds. However, the
packaging isn’t perfect and the actual
weights are What shape
uniformly does a uniform
distributed with a
What is the height of this
mean of 4.98 distribution
pounds and a have?
range of .12
rectangle?
pounds.
How long is this rectangle?
a)Construct the uniform distribution above.
1/.12

4.92 4.98 5.04

• What is the probability that a
randomly selected bag will weigh
more than 4.97 pounds?

P(X > 4.97) = .07(1/.12) = .5833

What is the length of
the shaded region?

1/.12

4.92 4.98 5.04

• Find the probability that a
randomly selected bag weighs
between 4.93 and 5.03 pounds.
What is the
P(4.93<X<5.03) = .1(1/.12) length of
= .8333
the shaded region?

1/.12

4.92 4.98 5.04

The time it takes for students to drive
to school is evenly distributed with a
minimum of 5 minutes and a range of 35
minutes.
What is the height of the
rectangle?
a)Draw the distribution
Where should the
rectangle end?
1/35

5 40
b) What is the probability that it takes
less than 20 minutes to drive to
school?
P(X < 20) = (15)(1/35) = .4286

1/35

5 40
c) What is the mean and standard
deviation of this distribution?

m = (5 + 40)/2 = 22.5 min

s2 = (40 - 5)2/12 = 102.083

s = 10.1036 min
 Normal Distributions
• Symmetrical bell-shaped (unimodal) density curve
• Above the horizontal axis How is this done
• N(m, s) mathematically?
• The transition points occur at m + s
• Probability is calculated by finding the area under
the curve
• As s increases, the curve flattens &
spreads out
• As s decreases, the curve gets
taller and thinner
 Normal distributions occur
frequently.
• Length of newborn child
• Height
• Weight
• ACT or SAT scores
• Intelligence
• Number of typing errors
• Chemical processes
 A

B
6
s s
Do these two normal curves have the same mean?
If so, what is it? YES
Which normal curve has a standard deviation of 3?
B of 1?
Which normal curve has a standard deviation
A
 Empirical Rule
• Approximately 68% of the
observations fall within s of m
• Approximately 95% of the
observations fall within 2s of m
• Approximately 99.7% of the
observations fall within 3s of m
Suppose that the height of male
students at CRHS is normally
distributed with a mean of 71 inches
and standard deviation of 2.5 inches.
What is the probability that the
height of a randomly selected male
student is more than 73.5 inches?
1 - .68 = .32

P(X > 73.5) = 0.16

68%

71
 Standard Normal Density
Curves
Always has m = 0 & s = 1

To standardize:
x  Must have
z  this
memorized!

 Strategies for finding
probabilities or proportions in
normal distributions

1. State the probability

statement
2. Draw a picture
3. Calculate the z-score
4. Look up the probability
(proportion) in the table
The lifetime of a certain type of battery
is normally distributed with a mean of
200 hours
Writeand a standardDraw
the deviation of 15
& shade
hours. What proportion of these
probability the curve
batteries can be expected to last less
statement
than 220 hours?
P(X < 220) = .9082
Look up z-
220  200
score in  1.33
z 
15
table
Calculate z-score
The lifetime of a certain type of battery
is normally distributed with a mean of
200 hours and a standard deviation of 15
hours. What proportion of these
batteries can be expected to last more
than 220 hours?
P(X>220) = 1 - .9082
= .0918
220  200
z   1.33
15
The lifetime of a certain type of battery
is normally distributed with a mean of
200 hours and a standard deviation of 15
hours. How longLook up in
must table 0.95
a battery last to be
in the top 5%? to find z- score
P(X > ?) = .05

x  200 .95
1.645  .05

15 1.645

x  224.675
The heights of the female students at
CRHS are normally distributed with a
mean of 65 inches. What is the
What is the z-
standard deviation of this score for the
distribution
63?
if 18.5% of the female students are
shorter than 63 inches?
P(X < 63) = .185
63  65 -0.9
 .9 

63
2
   2.22
 .9
The heights of female teachers at
CRHS are normally distributed with
mean of 65.5 inches and standard
deviation of 2.25 inches. The heights
of male teachers are normally
distributed with mean of 70 inches and
standard deviation of 2.5 inches.
•Describe the distribution of differences
of heights (male – female) teachers.
Normal distribution with m
= 4.5 & s = 3.3634
• What is the probability that a
randomly selected male teacher is
shorter than a randomly selected
female teacher?

P(X<0) = .0901

0  4.5 4.5
z   1.34
3.3634
Will my calculator do any
of this normal stuff?
• Normalpdf – use for graphing ONLY

• Normalcdf – will find probability of

area from lower bound to upper
bound

• Invnorm (inverse normal) – will find

z-score for probability
 Distributions Overview
A. Discrete – count of a random variable
- Discrete (non Bernoulli) – displayed as chart
- Binomial - set number of trials
- Geometric - no set number of trials
B. Continuous – measure of a random
variable
- Unusual – any shape
- Uniform - rectangle
- Normal – most common in statistics