Chapter 4_Probability and Normal Distribution
Chapter 4_Probability and Normal Distribution
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
• Refers to a bell shaped curve used to represent the distribution of real valued
random variables in statistics.
• The normal distribution curve is governed by a general principle which states that,
when the number of random variables to be represented is very large, their
graphical representation drawn from their independent distributions tends to be
normally distributed.
• Many natural phenomenons such as heights of people, blood pressure, test scores,
error in measurements etc. follow a normal distribution pattern.
5. The area under the curve is directly proportional to the relative frequency of
observations.
e.g. here, 50% of scores fall below the mean, as does 50% of the area under the
curve.
e.g. here, 85% of scores fall below score X, corresponding to 85% of the area
under the curve.
All normal curves share this property: the SD cuts off a constant proportion of the
distribution of scores:-
frequency
68%
95%
99.7%
-3 -2 -1 mean +1 +2
+3
Number of standard deviations either side of mean School of Education and Humanities
Course Code - Course Name
About 68% of scores fall in the range of the mean plus and minus 1 SD; Chapter x – Chapter Name
68%
ZX
Normal
Distribution Standardized Normal Distribution
z = 1
X Z =0 Z
One table!
School of Education and Humanities
Course Code - Course Name
z-scores: Chapter x – Chapter Name
for a sample :
X - X
z School of Education and Humanities
s
Raw score distributions:
Course Code - Course Name
Chapter x – Chapter Name
X = 236
X = 65
X 50 s 10 X 200 s 24
z = 1.5
X 0 s 1
z-score distribution:
X is expressed in terms of its deviation from the mean (in SDs).
School of Education and Humanities
Did Sara improve? Course Code - Course Name
Chapter x – Chapter Name
2. z-scores enable us to determine the relationship between one score and the rest of the
Chapter x – Chapter Name
(c) We need to know the size of the area beyond z (remember - the area under the Normal
curve corresponds directly to the proportion of scores).
Many statistics books have z-score tables, giving us this information: Chapter x – Chapter Name
(a)
z (a) Area between mean (b) Area
and z beyond z
0.00 0.0000 0.5000
0.01 0.0040 0.4960
(b)
0.02 0.0080 0.4920
: : :
1.00 0.3413 * 0.1587
: : :
2.00 0.4772 + 0.0228
: : :
3.00 0.4987 # 0.0013 School of Education and Humanities
Course Code - Course Name
Chapter x – Chapter Name
0.0228