z-Scores

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 z-Scores
Consider an Internet site that offers movie downloads. Based on data kept by
the site, an estimate of the mean time to download a certain movie is 12 min,
with a standard deviation of 4 min.

When you download this movie, the download takes

20 min, which you think is an unusually long time for the download.

On the other hand, when your friend downloads the movie, the download takes
only 6 min, and your friend is pleasantly surprised at how quickly she receives
the movie.

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z-Scores
In each case, a data value far from the mean is unexpected.

The graph below shows the download times for this movie
using two different measures: the number of minutes a
download time is from the mean and the number of
standard deviations the download time is from the mean.

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 z-Scores
The number of standard deviations between a data value and the mean is
known as the data value’s z-score or standard score.

In the next example, we use a student’s z-scores for two tests to determine how
well the student did on each test in comparison to the other students.

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 Example 1 – Compare z-Scores
Raul has taken two tests in his chemistry class. He scored 72 on the first test,
for which the mean of all scores was 65 and the standard deviation was 8. He
received a 60 on a second test, for which the mean of all scores was 45 and the
standard deviation was 12. In comparison to the other students, did Raul do
better on the first test or the second test?

Solution:
Find the z-score for each test.

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 Example 1 – Solution cont’d

Raul scored 0.875 standard deviation above the mean on the first test and 1.25
standard deviations above the mean on the second test.

These z-scores indicate that, in comparison to his classmates, Raul scored

better on the second test than
he did on the first test.