Normal Distributions and the

Empirical Rule

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 Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule
One of the most important statistical distributions of data is known as a normal
distribution. This distribution occurs in a variety of applications.

Types of data that may demonstrate a normal distribution include the lengths of
leaves on a tree, the weights of newborns in a hospital, the lengths of time of a
student’s trip from home to school over a period of months, the SAT scores of a
large group of students, and the life spans of light bulbs.

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 Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule
A normal distribution forms a bell-shaped curve that is symmetric about a
vertical line through the mean of the data. A graph of a normal distribution with
a mean of 5 is shown below.

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Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule

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Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule

In the normal distribution shown below, the area of the

shaded region is 0.159 units. This region represents the
fact that 15.9% of the data are greater than or equal to 10.

Because the area under the curve is 1, the unshaded region

under the curve has area 1 – 0.159, or 0.841, representing
the fact that 84.1% of the data are less than 10.

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 Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule
The following rule, called the Empirical Rule, describes the percents of data
that lie within 1, 2, and 3 standard deviations of the mean in a normal
distribution.

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Normal Distributions and the Empirical Rule

A normal
distribution

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 Example 2 – Use the Empirical Rule to Solve an Application
A survey of 1000 U.S. gas stations found that the price charged for a gallon of
regular gas could be closely approximated by a normal distribution with a mean
of $3.10 and a standard deviation of $0.18. How many of the stations charge

a. between $2.74 and $3.46 for a gallon of regular gas?

b. less than $3.28 for a gallon of regular gas?
c. more than $3.46 for a gallon of regular gas?

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 Example 2 – Solution
a. The $2.74 per gallon price is 2 standard deviations
below the mean. The $3.46 price is 2 standard
deviations above the mean. In a normal distribution,
95% of all data lie within 2 standard deviations of the
mean. See Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4

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 Example 2 – Solution
Therefore approximately cont’d

of the stations charge between $2.74 and $3.46 for a

gallon of regular gas.

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 Example 2 – Solution cont’d
b. The $3.28 price is 1 standard deviation above the mean. See Figure 4.5.

In a normal distribution, 34% of all data lie between the

mean and 1 standard deviation above
Figure 4.5
the mean.

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 Example 2 – Solution
Thus, approximately cont’d

of the stations charge between $3.10 and $3.28 for a

gallon of regular gasoline.

Half of the 1000 stations, or 500 stations, charge less

than the mean.

Therefore about 340 + 500 = 840 of the stations charge

less than $3.28 for a gallon of regular gas.

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 Example 2 – Solution
c. The $3.46 price is 2 standard deviations above the cont’d
mean. In a normal distribution, 95% of all data are within 2 standard
deviations of the mean.

This means that the other 5% of the data will lie either more than 2 standard
deviations above the mean or more than 2 standard deviations below the
mean. We are interested only in the data that are more than 2 standard
deviations above the mean, which is of 5%, or 2.5%, of the data.

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 Example 2 – Solution
See Figure 4.6. cont’d

Thus about Figure 4.6

of the stations charge more than $3.46 for a gallon of

regular gas.

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