Question

M& M’s has stated that their Tennessee factory, produces bags of
M& M’s with a 20.7% blue. In a sample of 712 M&M’s, Rick
Wicklin found that 18.7% were blue. Which of the numbers in
bold are examples of a statistics and which are examples of
parameters?
https://qz.com/918008/the-color-distribution-of-mms-as-
determined-by-a-phd-in-statistics/
The Normal Distribution
The Normal Distribution
Going back to where we left off, the most important distribution of
this course (and one very commonly occurring in practice) is the
normal distribution.
The Normal Distribution

This has values located near the middle of the distribution and
they get increasingly less common as you move further away in
either direction. Some things that can be described by the normal
distribution are: heights of a single gender, test scores, IQs,
batting averages, etc. . .
The Normal Distribution

The curve of the normal distribution is just a function given by:

3 42
1 x ≠µ
1 ≠
f (x ) = Ô e 2 ‡
2fi‡ 2
for ≠Œ < x < Œ, ≠Œ < µ < Œ, 0 < ‡.

So if you plug in a value for X into the function, it will give you
the height of the density curve at that point.
Family of Normal Distributions

So, to know the shape of the density curve for any population
which follows the normal distribution, you only need to know the
value of µ and ‡. That is, the parameters µ and ‡ completely
define the distribution.

Family of Normal Distributions: The set of all normal distributions

(with every combination of µ and ‡).
Properties of the Normal Distribution

1. It is symmetric about µ (so µ is also the median).

2. Single peaked
3. Extends infinitely far in either direction
4. The curve never touches the x-axis but its height gets
infinitely small as X gets very large or very small.
µ

µ: µ is a location parameter. Increasing µ shifts the curve to the

right and decreasing µ shifts the curve to the left.
µ
Here the three graphs have equal ‡’s but different µ’s.
0.4

mu=−5
mu=0
mu=5
0.3
0.2
y3

0.1
0.0

−5 0 5

x
R Code (for interest only)

x=seq(-8,8,length=500)
y3=dnorm(x,mean=-5,sd=1)
plot(x,y3,type="l",lwd=2,col="green")
y2=dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1)
lines(x,y2,type="l",lwd=2,col="blue")
y1=dnorm(x,mean=5,sd=1)
lines(x,y1,type="l",lwd=2,col="red")
legend("topright",c("mu=-5","mu=0","mu=5"),
lty=c(1,1,1),col=c("green","blue","red"))
‡

‡: ‡ is a shape parameter. Increasing ‡ makes the curve wider and

decreasing ‡ makes the curve narrower.
‡
Here the two graphs have equal µ’s but various ‡’s.
0.8

sigma=1/2
sigma=2
sigma=1
0.6
0.4
y3

0.2
0.0

−5 0 5

x
R Code (for interest only)

x=seq(-8,8,length=500)
y3=dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1/2)
plot(x,y3,type="l",lwd=2,col="green")
y2=dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=2)
lines(x,y2,type="l",lwd=2,col="blue")
y1=dnorm(x,mean=0,sd=1)
lines(x,y1,type="l",lwd=2,col="red")
legend("topright",c("sigma=1/2","sigma=2","sigma=1"),
lty=c(1,1,1),col=c("green","blue","red"))
Describing the Normal Distribution

As a normal population can be fully described by its parameters, if

a variable X has a normal distribution with mean µ and standard
deviation ‡, we will denote it by

X ≥ N(µ, ‡)

“≥’ ’ means follows and N is for normal.

follows a Normal
distr n w parameters
M and J
The 68-95-99.7 Rule (The Empirical Rule)
68-95-99.7 rule

Despite the varying heights and widths, all normal distributions

conform to the same rule about the approximate percentage of
observations between 1, 2, and 3 standard deviations from the
mean.
68-95-99.7 rule
Shown graphically:

g's
from
68% of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean. m
68-95-99.7 rule

95% of the data falls within two standard deviations of the mean.
68-95-99.7 rule

99.7% of the data falls within three standard deviations of the

mean.
68-95-99.7 Rule Picture

calories XnN M 400 5 25

Suppose the calorie content of the lunches in lunchroom follows a

normal distribution with mean 400 calories and standard deviation
25 calories. Fill out a picture of the density curve by labeling the
calories at 1, 2, and 3 standard deviation above and below the
mean.

475
325350 375400 425 450
2 1 1 2 3
Example: 68-95-99.7 rule

midtermmarks nN h 65 5 10
In a biology class, the midterm marks followed a normal
distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 10.
Using the 68-95-99.7 rule, approx. how many
hatestudents scored:
a) between 55 and 75?

68 1144k

3 2 1 1 2 3
Example: 68-95-99.7 rule

In a biology class, the midterm marks followed a normal

distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 10.
Using the 68-95-99.7 rule, approx. how many students scored:

a) between 55 and 75?

F
b) between 65 and 85?

9 475
47.5 0 1 2 to
Example: 68-95-99.7 rule

In a biology class, the midterm marks followed a normal

distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 10.
Using the 68-95-99.7 rule, approx. how many students scored:

a) between 55 and 75?

XIII
b) between 65 and 85?

c) between 45 and 75?

9521.6 3 2 10 I 2

4751.34 815
e
Example: 68-95-99.7 rule

In a biology class, the midterm marks followed a normal

distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 10.
Using the 68-95-99.7 rule, approx. how many students scored:
1 Nen
a) between 55 and 75? 55.478
b) between 65 and 85?

c) between 45 and 75?

d) greater than 85?

t t t

If
 0
Example: 68-95-99.7 rule E
Ei
In a biology class, the midterm marks followed a normal
distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 10.
Using the 68-95-99.7 rule, approx. how many students scored:

a) between 55 and 75?

b) between 65 and 85?

c) between 45 and 75?

d) greater than 85?

Question

Fill volume
NIM 95 T
The fill volumes on cups of yogurt are known to follow a normal
distribution with a mean of 95g. Through testing, it’s found that
95% of cups are filled with between 87g and 103g (Seriously,
someone needs to get on this quality control issue) Use the
information to estimate the value for ‡.\

8 25

IT
871 951 To
The Standard Normal Distribution
The Standard Normal Distribution

There is one special normal distribution that we have to know

about called the standard normal distribution. This distribution
has mean µ = 0 and standard deviation ‡ = 1. We denote
standard normal variables by Z . That is,

Z ≥ N(0, 1)

.
Z of Std devs away
Frommeat
Transforming to N(0, 1)

IMPORTANT RESULT: If X ≥ N(µ, ‡), if we apply the

transformation
X ≠µ
Z=
‡
then the density curve transforms to the standard normal variable
density curve Z ≥ N(0, 1).