STATISTICS AND

PROBABILITY
The Normal Distribution

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 1

Objective:

 illustrate a normal random

variable and its characteristics
(M11/12SP-IIIc-1)

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 2

Properties that can be observed from
the graph of a Normal distribution,
also known as Gaussian distribution.
1.The graph is a
continuous curve and
has a domain -∞ < X < ∞.
This means that X may
increase or decrease
without bound.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 3

 2. The graph is asymptotic to the x-axis. The value
of the variable gets closer and closer but will never
be equal to 0.
 As the x gets larger and larger in the positive direction,
the tail of the curve approaches but will never touch the
horizontal axis. The same thing when the x gets larger
and larger in the negative direction.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 4

 3.The highest point on the curve occurs at x = μ
(mean).
 • The mean (μ) indicates the highest peak of the curve
and is found at the center.
 • Take note that the mean is denoted by this symbol μ
and the standard deviation is denoted by this symbol σ .
 •The median and mode of the distribution are also found
at the center of the graph. This indicates that in a normal
distribution, the mean, median and mode are equal.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 5

 4. The curve is symmetrical about the mean.
 • This means that the curve will have balanced
proportions when cut in halves and the area
under the curve to the right of mean (50%) is
equal to the area under the curve to the left of
the mean (50%).

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 6

 5. The total area in the normal distribution
under the curve is equal to 1.
 • Since the mean divides the curve into halves,
50% of the area is to the right and 50% to its
left having a total of 100% or 1.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 7

 6. In general, the graph of a normal distribution is a
bell-shaped curve with two inflection points, one on
the left and another on the right. Inflection points are
the points that mark the change in the curve’s
concavity.

• Inflection point is the point at which a change in the
direction of curve at mean minus standard
deviation and mean plus standard deviation.
 • Note that each inflection point of the normal curve is one
standard deviation away from the mean.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 8

 7. Every normal curve corresponds to the
“empirical rule” (also called the 68 -95 - 99.7%
rule):
 • about 68.3% of the area under the curve falls

within 1 standard deviation of the mean

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 9

 7. Every normal curve corresponds to the
“empirical rule” (also called the 68 -95 - 99.7%
rule):
 • about 95.4% of the area under the curve falls
within 2 standard deviations of the mean

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 10

 7. Every normal curve corresponds to the
“empirical rule” (also called the 68 -95 - 99.7%
rule):
 about 99.7% of the area under the curve falls
within 3 standard deviations of the mean.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 11

Consider the following examples:
 Suppose the mean is 60 and the
standard deviation is 5, sketch a
normal curve for the distribution. This
is how it would look.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 12

Four-Step Process in Finding the
Areas Under the Normal Curve Given
a z- Value
Step 1. Express the given z-value into a three-
digit form.
Step 2. Using the z-Table, find the first two digits
on the left column.
Step 3. Match the third digit with the appropriate
column on the right.
Step 4. Read the area (or probability) at the
intersection of the row and the column. This is
the required area

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 13

Find the area that corresponds to z= 1

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 14

Find the area that corresponds to
z= 1.36

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 15

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
to the left of z = 0.94

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 16

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
to the right of z =− 0.65

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 17

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
to the right of z = 1.76

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 18

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
to the left of z =− 0.85

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 19

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
between z = 0.87 and z = 1.28

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 20

Find the area under the standard
normal curve which lies
between z =− 0.34 and z = 0.62

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 21

 Consider the following examples:
 A continuous random variable X is normally distributed with a mean of
45 and standard deviation of 6. Illustrate a normal curve and find the
probability of the following:
a. P (39 < X < 51) = 68.3%
c. P (X > 45) = 50%
b. P (33 < X < 63) = 97.55%
d. P (X < 39) = 15.85%

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 22

Write ND if the statement describes a
characteristic of a normal distribution, and
NND if it does not describe a characteristic
of a normal distribution.

 1. The curve of the distribution is bell-

shaped.

 2. In a normal distribution, the mean,

median and mode are of equal values.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 23

 3. The normal curve gradually gets closer
and closer to 0 on one side.

 4. The curve is symmetrical about the mean.

 5. The distance between the two inflection

points of the normal curve is equal to the
value of the mean.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 24

 6. A normal distribution has a mean that is also
equal to the standard deviation.

 7. The two parameters of the normal

distribution are the mean and the standard
deviation.

 8. The normal curve can be described as

asymptotic.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 25

 9. Two standard deviations away
from the left and right of the mean
is equal to 68.3%.

 10. The area under the curve

bounded by the x-axis is equal to 1.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Chapter 6, Slide 26