3.

2 Standard Normal Distributions

Continuous Probability Distributions

A continuous probability distribution has an infinite number of potential outcomes.

This means that we can not simply list the outcomes with their associated probabilities
in a table. Instead, probabilities are defined through the area of the curve of the
probability function.
Normal Distributions
A normal distribution is a bell-shaped distribution that is symmetric about the mean.
The total area under the curve is 1, which corresponds to the 100% probability that a
given value will be under the distribution. It extends infinitely in both direction, though
the curve gets closer and closer to zero.
Standard Normal Distribution
A standard normal distribution is a particular normal distribution for which the mean
is zero and the standard deviation is one.
Finding Probabilities with Standard Normal Distributions
To find probabilities with Normal Distributions, we will use the calculator function
normalcdf(lower, upper, µ, σ)
1. Area to the left of a z-score: normalcdf(-10000, z, 0, 1)

2. Area to the right of a z-score: normalcdf(z, 10000, 0, 1)

3. Area between two z-scores: normalcdf(z1 , z2 , 0, 1)

Examples
Find the following probabilities.
1. P(z ¡ -1.54)

2. P(z ¿ 0.93)

3. P(-3.41 ¡ z ¡ -2.37)
Examples
4. Find the cumulative area under the normal distribution curve between the z-scores
of -0.45 and 1.28.

5. Find the cumulative probability the the left of a z-score of 1.13 in a standard normal
distribution.

6. Find the area to the right of a z-score of -0.67.