Continuous Distributions

• Prof G R C Nair
 Objectives
• Learn the characteristics and
application of the normal distribution.
• Define and calculate the standard normal
distribution values.
• Determine the probability of an
observation to be above or below a given
value using the standard normal
distribution.
• Approximating normal distribution for
binomial distributions
• Learn another continuous distributions, ‘t’
 Normal Distribution

• The Normal curve is continuous

distribution
• It is a bell-shaped curve and has a
single peak at the exact center of
the distribution.

The arithmetic mean, median, and

mode of the curve are the same
and at the peak
 The normal distribution is perfectly
symmetrical about its mean.
 Thus half the area under the curve is above
the mean and half is below it.

The normal probability distribution

is asymptotic. That is the curve gets
closer and closer to the X-axis but
never actually touches it.
 l i : ,

Characteristics of a Normal Distribution

Normal
curve is
symmetrica
l

Mean, median, and

x
Theoretically, curve
mode are equal extends to infinity
The Standard Normal Distribution
The standard normal distribution is a
normal distribution with a mean of 0
and a standard deviation of 1.
It is also called the z distribution.
A z-value is the distance between a
selected value, designated X, and the
population mean, divided by the population
standard deviation. The formula is:
X  
z 

• The monthly starting salaries of
recent MBA graduates follows
the normal distribution with a
mean of Rs 20,000 and a
standard deviation of Rs 2000.
What is the z-value for a salary
of Rs 24,000?

X  
z 

24, 000  20 , 000
  2 . 00
2000
What is the z-value of Rs 17,000?

X  
z 

1 7,000  20, 000
   1 . 50
2000
A z-value of 2 indicates that the value
of Rs 24,000 is two standard deviation
above the mean of Rs 20,000. A z-value
of –1.50 indicates that Rs17,000 is 1.5
standard deviation below the mean of
Rs 20,000.
Areas Under the Normal Curve

• About 68 percent of the area under

the normal curve is within one
standard deviation of the mean.
About 95 percent is within two
standard deviations of the mean.
Practically all (99.7%) is within three
standard deviations of the mean.
The total area under the curve is 1
 i ,

Areas Under the Normal Curve

  2    2
  3
x

  3   1   1
 Example

The daily water usage per person in

New Delhi is normally distributed
with a mean of 20 gallons and a
standard deviation of 5 gallons. How
many gallons of water will be used
by about 68 percent of those living
in New Delhi?
• About 68% of the daily water usage
will lie between 15 and 25 gallons.
• What is the probability that a
person from New Delhi selected at
random will use between 20 and 24
gallons per day?

X  20  20
z    0.00
 5

X  24  20
z    0.80
 5
• The area under a normal curve
between a z-value of 0 and a z-
value of 0.80 is 0.2881.(See table)

• We conclude that 28.81 percent

of the residents use between 20
and 24 gallons of water per day.
Standard Normal table
r l i : ,

P(0<z<.8)
=.2881

0<x<.8

-4 -3 -2 -1 x
0 1 2 3 4
• What percent of the population use
between 18 and 26 gallons per day?

X  18  20
z    0.40
 5

X  26  20
z    1.20
 5
• The area associated with a z-value of –
0.40 is .1554.

• The area associated with a z-value of

1.20 is .3849.

• Adding these areas, the result is .5403.

• We conclude that 54.03 percent of the

residents use between 18 and 26
gallons of water per day.
 Example

• The distribution of marks in a class was

normal with 45 as average and 10 as std
deviation. How many can be expected to
have a first class (above 60%) ? How
many have distinction ( above 75%) ?
How many failed (below 35%) ?
Example - HW

• A corporation has 10,000 Bulbs on a

city street. Life of bulb is normally
distributed with 60 days mean and
20 days std deviation. How many
bulbs are expected to be replaced
with in i. 20 days ii. 35 days iii. 75
days , iv. between 75 and 100 days?
• ans : i.228, ii. 1056, iii.7734 iv.2038
Normal approximation for Binomial

Normal distribution can be used as

approximation for Binomial for large
values of n. Both np and nq should be at
least 5.
• Take  = np ; and Variance = npq
with continuity correction factor for
converting discrete to continuous by
adding/subtracting, (as the case) 0.5.
eg P(>10) in Binomial = P (>10.5) in Normal
P(<6) in Binomial = P (< 5.5) in Normal
P(5,6,7or 8) in Binomial = P(4.5 to 8.5) etc
 Example
• In 10 toss of a coin , find the
probability of getting head 5, 6, 7, or 8
times by normal approximation.
• p=0.5, q=0.5 n=1 - So np=5, nq= 5. So
Normal Approximation is just permissible.
• Take  as np =5 and  as root of
npq=1.58 and take the area between 4.5
to 8.5 from std normal table.
ie z =-.3165 to 2.21= .6119
• (Binomial gives .6123).
 ‘t’ Distribution
• Symmetrical and continuous.
• Similar to std normal curve.
• Lower peak and higher tails.
• Its center is at zero.
• Has one more parameter d.f.=n-1
• Used for study of small samples
(<30 elements).
• t = (X-) / (s/root n)
 Assignment
• Page 271,279 Levin