NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

I. INTRODUCTION
The Normal Distribution is the most important probability
distribution in statistics because it fits many natural phenomena. For
example, height, blood pressure, measurement error, and IQ scores
follow the normal distribution. It is also known as the Gaussian
Distribution and bell curve.
The normal distribution is a probability function that describes
how the values of a variable are distributed. It is symmetric
distribution where most of the observation cluster around the central
peak and the probabilities for values further away from the mean
taper of equally both directions. Extremes Values in both tail of the
distribution is similarly unlikely.

II. OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
a. Define the Normal Distribution;
b. Identify the properties of normal distribution; and
c. Solve the range, standard deviation, Z- score, stanine and percentile
rank.

III. DISCUSSION:

Normal Distribution

- a continuous probability distribution of data that has the shape of a

symmetrical bell curve, that is why it is also called as the BELL
CURVE.
- it is also called as GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION/CURVE, named after
Carl Gauss who created a mathematical formula for the curve.

Properties of Normal Distribution:

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 ➢ The normal curve is bell-
shaped and is symmetric about the mean.
➢ The mean, median, and mode are equal.
➢ The total is under the normal curve is equal to 1.
➢ The curve approaches but never touches the x-axis.

Empirical Rule

 Also known as the three sigma or rule or the 68-95-99.7 rule.

 It is a statistical rule which states that for a normal distribution,
almost all observed data will fall within 3 standard deviations from the
mean.
 68% of the area under the curve falls within 1 standard deviation of
the mean.
 95% of the area under the curve falls within 2 standard deviations of
the mean.
 99.7% of the area under the curve falls within 3 standard deviations of
the mean.

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 Describing Individual
Performance

There are four ways of describing the individual performance of the

students. In order to describe the individual performance of the students,
convert the raw score to standard score. This is done by computing the
zscore, T-score, standard nine (stanine) and percentile rank.

Actual score or raw score-are the scores directly obtained from the
result of an assessment procedure. Such score cannot interpret whether
they converted or transformed so that they become meaningful, interpreted
and directly comparable.

30 80 90 30 50 85
Figure 1 Figure 2

Example:

John Michael obtained a score of 82 in Business Statistics and 78 in marketing

management. In which subject did not perform well? It is correct to say that John
Michael performed well in Business Statistics?

Business Statistics Marketing Management

raw score(x)- 82 raw score(x)- 78

mean score(x)- 85 mean score(x)- 70
Standard deviation(s)-3 standard deviation (s) -4

Normal curve model- based is used as a basis to compare the distribution with
different means and different standard deviation.

Business Statistics Marketing Management

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 75 76 79 82 85 88 91 94 97 48 58 62 66 70 74 78 82 86
Measure of Variability

A single value that is used to describe the spread or dispersion of the

scores in a distribution, that is above or below the measures of central
tendency. Three commonly used measures of variability: Range, quartile
deviation and standard deviation.

The Range:

Range: is the difference between highest scores and lowest scores in the data
set. By formula: R=HS-LS

In a step distribution it is the difference of the class mark of the highest and
lowest steps.

Find the range of the following data set:

A) 20, 18,25, 28, 26
B) 8, 5, 5, 3, 7
The range in set A is 10= 28 - 18 The range in set B is 5= 8-3

Properties of range
1) Most unreliable measure of dispersion
2) It is affected by changes of extreme values

Standard Deviation:

Is the most important and useful measure of variation. It is the square

root of the variance. It is an average of the degree to which each set of scores
in the distribution deviates from the mean value. It is more stable measure
of variation considering that it involves all the scores in the distribution
rather than range and quartile deviation.

SD = Σ(x-mean)2
n

Where: x = indiv.score and n=

number of scores in a distrib.

Example:
Find the standard deviation of the scores of 10 students in a math quiz.
Using the given data below.:

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 X Mean. (X-
mean)2
45. 48.5. 12.25
35. 182.25
48. 0.25
60. 132.25
44. 20.25
39. 90.25
47. 2.25
55. 42.25
58. 90.25
54. 30.25
Σx=485. Σ(x-mean)2 = 602.25

N= 10

Mean = Σx/n
= 485/10
Mean= 48.5

SD= Σ(x-mean)2
n
SD = 602.5
10
SD = /60.25
SD= 7.76

SD= 7.76 this means that on the average the amount that every score deviate
from the mean value of 48.5 is 7.76.

Standard Scores

1. Z- score
- used to standardized or normalize raw scores of individual
learners and can be used to compare learner’s performance.
- Used to convert a raw core to a standard score so that we can
tell how far a row score is form the mean in standard
deviation units or where the raw score lies.

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Z- score Value- indicates the distance between given raw score and the
mean value in units of the standard deviation. The z- value is positive when
the raw score is above the mean, while the z- value is negative when the raw
score is below the mean. The formula of z- score is;

Z= x-u

Where; Z= z- value
x= raw score
u= mean
= standard deviation

The Z- score formula is very essential when we compare the

performance of a student in his subjects or the performance of two students
from different groups. It can determine the exact location of the scores
whether above or below the mean and how many standard deviation units
from the mean.

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM OF
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION IN Z- SCORE

Question: Using the data about John Michael’s scores in business statistics
and marketing management, compute the z-score and the percentage if his
raw score in each subject.

1. Business Statistics Marketing Management

Raw Score (x) = 82 Raw Score (x) = 78
Mean Score (u) = 85 Mean Score (u) = 70
Standard Deviation ( )= 3 Standard Deviation ( )= 4
34.13 %

Formula for Z- score Formula for Z- score

Z= x-u Z= x-u 72 76 70 74 78
82 85 88
Z= 82-85 Z= 78-70
3 4
Z= -3 or -1 Z= 8 or +2
3 4

John
Michael’s score
in Business
Statistics is one-
unit standard deviation below the mean. His score in marketing is two unit’s
standard deviation above the mean. Therefore, we can conclude that John
Michael performed better in Marketing Management than in Business
Statistics.

2. Jovers examination results in three subjects are as follows:

SUBJECT MEAN SD JOVERS GRADE
MATH 78 10 85
SCIENCE 75 5 70
ENGLISH 82 7.5 84

Find the Z- score of the three subjects;

Z= x-u Z= x-u Z= x-u

Zm= 85-78 Zs= 70-75 Ze= 84-82

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 10 5 7.5

Zm= 7 or .7 Zs= -5 or -1 Ze= 2 or .27

10 5 7.5

70 75 80 74.5 82 84
68 78 85 88
Find the percentage of his grade in each subject.

25.30 % 34.13 % 10.64 %

MATH SCIENCE ENGLISH

Jover’s score in Math is seven tenths unit’s standard deviation above

the mean. His score in science is one-unit standard deviation below the mean.
His score in English is twenty-seven hundredths above the mean. Therefore,
we can conclude that Jover performed better in Math than in Science and
English.

Stanine Score
A stanine (“standard nine”) score is a way to scale scores on a
ninepoint scale. It can be used to convert any test score to a single-digit
score. Like z-scores and t-scores, stanines are a way to assign a number to a
member of a group, relative to all members in that group. However, while
zscores and t-scores can be expressed with decimals like 1.2 or 3.25,
stanines are always positive whole numbers from 0 to 9.
Stanines are also similar to normal distributions. You can think of
these scores as a bell curve that has been sliced up into 9 pieces. These
pieces are numbered 1 through 9, starting at the left-hand section. However,
where a standard normal distribution has a mean of 0 and a standard
deviation of 1, stanines have a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2.

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How to convert a score to stanine?

Step 1: Rank the scores from lowest to highest.

Step 2: Assign a stanine score to your scores from Step 1:

Stanine Score Percentage Scores

1 Bottom 4%
2 Next Bottom 7%
3 Next Bottom 12%
4 Next Bottom 17%
5 Middle 20%
6 Next Top 17%
7 Next Top 12%
8 Next Top 7%
9 Top 4%
The mean lies in the middle of the fifth stanine, cutting the center 20%
into two parts.

The Table below summarize the grading system using stanine. It indicates the
percentage of scores in each stanine and the corresponding descriptions.

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 Percentile Rank

Percentile rank in statistics results from the percentile, which is the

percent of ranking items that appear at or below a certain score. Percentile
rank is a common metric statisticians calculate when scoring standardized
tests and examinations. This measurement shows the percentage of scores
within a standard frequency distribution that is lower than the percentile
ranks you're measuring. For instance, if you take a standardized test and
your score is greater than or equal to 90% of all other scores, your percentile
rank is the 90th percentile.

It's also important to note that the percentile rank may not denote an
actual test score or other assessment score. It only represents an item's
rank against a larger group's places between 0 and 100. You can calculate
the percentile rank using this formula:

Percentile rank = p / 100 x (n + 1)

In the equation, p represents the percentile and n represents the total

number of items in the data set.

Calculating Percentile

To calculate the percentile rank, you need to know the percentile of

the item you're ranking. You can find the percentile of a specific score using
this formula:

Percentile = (number of values below score) ÷ (total number of scores) x

100

For example, if a student scores 1,280 points out of 1,600 on the SATs, they
can use this basic percentile formula to find out how their score compares
with others in the set they're comparing.

To get the percentile rank, calculate the percentile of a specific

assessment score. The steps below outline how to calculate the percentile
using example test scores:

1. Put your data in ascending order. When calculating the percentile of a set
of data, such as test scores, arrange the values in ascending order,
starting with the lowest value and ending with the highest. As an
example, use the data set of standardized test scores (77, 76, 88, 85, 87,
78, 80, 95, 90, 83, 89, 93, 75, 70, 67) for a student who wants to find
their percentile with a score of 88. The values in this data set in
ascending order are (67, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 83, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93,
95).

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 2. Divide the number of values
below by the total number of values
Once your values are in ascending order, count the number of values
that occur below the score you're measuring percentile for. Using the
example scores from above (67, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 83, 85, 87, 88, 89,
90, 93, 95) and the student's score of 88, the number of values that appear
below 88 is 10. Then, count all the values in the entire data set. In this
example, the number of all values in the data set is 15. Plug these values
into the formula:

Percentile = (number of values below score) ÷ (total number of scores) x

100 = (10) ÷ (15) x 100

4. Multiply the result

Using the formula, calculate the quotient between the number of

values below your score and the number of all the values in your data set.
Multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage. With the previous test score
example, calculate percentile:

Percentile = (number of values below score) ÷ (total number of scores) x

100 = (10) ÷ (15) x 100 = 0.66 x 100 = 66%

This result shows that the student's score of 88 is in the 66th percentile.

How to calculate percentile rank?

When you know the percentile of a specific value, you can easily calculate
the percentile rank using the percentile rank formula:

Percentile rank = p / [100 x (n + 1)]

Use the steps below to apply the formula for calculating percentile rank:

1. Find the percentile of your data set

Calculate the percentile of the data set you're measuring so you can
calculate the percentile rank. As an example, assume you're calculating the
percentile rank of a test score in the 80th percentile. The value 80
represents the percentile in this case, which you can use in the formula to
find percentile rank. Substitute 80 for the p-value in the formula:

Percentile rank = (80) / [100 x (n + 1)]

2. Find the number of items in the data set

To find the n variable or the total number of values in your data set, simply
count up the number of items you're working with. For instance, assume the

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 above percentile is one of 25 test
scores. The value 25 represents the n variable in the formula:
Percentile rank = 80 / [100 x (25 + 1)]
Add one to the total number of values in the data set to get this:
Percentile rank = 80 / [100 x (26)]
3. Multiply the sum of the number of items and one by 100

Once you add one to your n value, multiply this sum by 100. Using the
previous example, find this value in the formula:

Percentile rank = 80 / (100 x 26) = 80 / 2,600

The sum of the value of all items in the data set and one gives a result of
251, and when you multiply this value by 100, the result is 25,100.

4. Divide the percentile by the product of 100 and n+1

Divide the resulting product of 100 and n+1 by the percentile value you
found in the first step. Using the example percentile of 80, this calculates
as:

Percentile rank = 80 / (2,600) = 0.03 = 3rd percentile rank

IV. SUMMARY

Normal Distribution

✓ A bell curve is a common type of distribution for a variable.

✓ Als known as the Gaussian Distribution, is a probability distribution
that is symmetric about the mean, showing that data near the mean
are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean.
✓ Called the bell curve, is a distribution that occurs naturally in many
situations.

Properties of a Normal Distribution

✓ The mean, mode, and median are all equal.

✓ The curve is symmetric at the center.
✓ Exactly half of the values are to the left of the center and exactly half
the values are to the right.
✓ The total area under the curve is 1.

Empirical Rule

✓ Also known as the three sigma or rule or the 68-95-99.7 rule.

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 ✓ It is a statistical rule which
states that for a normal distribution, almost all
observed data will fall within 3 standard deviations from the mean.
✓ 68% of the area under the curve falls within 1 standard deviation of the
mean.
✓ 95% of the area under the curve falls within 2 standard deviations of the
mean.
✓ 99.7% of the area under the curve falls within 3 standard deviations of the
mean.

Normal curve model- based is used as a basis to compare the distribution with
different means and different standard deviation.

Measure of Variability

A single value that is used to describe the spread or dispersion of the

scores in a distribution, that is above or below the measures of central
tendency. Three commonly used measures of variability: Range, quartile
deviation and standard deviation.

Range- is the difference between highest scores and lowest scores in the
data set. By formula: R=HS-LS

Properties of range:
1) Most unreliable measure of dispersion
2) It is affected by changes of extreme values

Standard Deviation
Is the most important and useful measure of variation. It is the square
root of the variance. It is an average of the degree to which each set of scores
in the distribution deviates from the mean value. It is more stable measure
of variation considering that it involves all the scores in the distribution
rather than range and quartile deviation.

SD = Σ(x-mean)2
n
Where: x = indiv.score n =
number of scores in a distrib.

Z-SCORE
- used to standardized or normalize raw scores of individual learners
and can be used to compare learner’s performance.
- Used to convert a raw core to a standard score so that we can tell how
far a row score is form the mean in standard deviation units or where the
raw score lies.

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 Z- score Value- indicates the
distance between given raw score and the mean value in units of the
standard deviation. The z- value is positive when the raw score is above the
mean, while the z- value is negative when the raw score is below the mean.

Z= x-u

Where; Z= z- value
x= raw score
u= mean
= standard deviation

Stanine Score
A stanine (“standard nine”) score is a way to scale scores on a nine-point
scale. It can be used to convert any test score to a single-digit score.

Percentile Rank
Percentile rank in statistics results from the percentile, which is the percent
of ranking items that appear at or below a certain score.
Percentile rank = p / 100 x (n + 1)

V. REFERENCES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1yfatTjb9c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txylq6RLiK8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuBREK_mgE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjF_yQ2N638
Gabuyo, Y. & Dy, G., Assessment of Learning II
Besavilla Jr., V. Fundamentals of Statistics for Engineering Licensure Exam

Prepared by:

Group 3
Leader: Carissalyn Ogsonar Asombrado
Members:
Emily Cabañas Cerbo
Gerlinda Mae Abella Cepeda
Irene Mirasol Basio
Jay Patrice Balsacao

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 Pauline Aquino
Queenilyn Caranzo

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