NORMAL DISTRIBUTION Characteristics of the normal distribution Quantitative variables in nature are generally normally distributed. E.g.

Hb level in newborn infants; birthweight of new born infants in rural India; height of urban male college students; number of mangoes on a tree during the mango season; etc. The distribution is bell-shaped. The distribution is bilaterally symmetrical. The mean, median, and mode coincide. There is a special relationship between the mean and SD The mean +/- one SD includes 68.3% of the population. The mean +/- two SD includes 95.5% of the population. The mean +/- three SD includes 99.7% of the population. Consider the example of population IQ. The mean IQ is 100, and the SD is 15. So, 68.3% of people have an IQ between 85 and 115 [and 34.15% have an IQ between 85 and 100, or between 100 and 115]. So, 95.5% of people have an IQ between 70 and 130 [and 13.6% have an IQ between 70 and 85, or between 115 and 130]. So, 99.7% of people have an IQ between 55 and 145 [and 2.1% have an IQ between 55 and 70, or between 130 and 145]. So, 0.15% have an IQ below 55, and 0.15% have an IQ above 145 The importance of the normal distribution is that, when we ascertain the mean and SD of a variable in the population, we can estimate the probability that a randomly chosen subject will have a particular value for that variable. An extension of this concept is the basis of a number of inferential statistical tests. There are other types of distribution, also, in statistics. These include the t distribution, the F distribution, the Chi square distribution, the Poisson distribution, the binomial distribution, and so on. Each is important for different kinds of data.