Remove Watermark Wondershare

PDFelement
13

STATISTICS
Name: ___________________________________________ Grade Level: ____________
Section: ___________________________________________ Score: _________________

Lesson 3.3

Areas Under the Normal Curve

Background Information for Learners

The normal distribution is the most widely known and used of all distributions. Because
the normal distribution approximates many natural phenomena so well, it has developed into a
standard of reference for many probability problems. Normally distributed data sets are common
in the real world. Real world observations that represent sums or averages of other numbers often
have histograms that are shaped like a normal data distribution. Applications include but are not
limited to business, finance, science and policy.
A key tool for calculating proportions and percentages associated with normal
distributions is the standard normal distribution. The standard normal distribution is a bell-
shaped planar region bounded above by a bell-shaped curve and below by a horizontal line
representing the z-values of the normal distribution.

Total area
is 1
A=1

z-values

Table 1 : The standard normal distribution curve

Possible data values of a standard normal random variable are indicated on the horizontal
line of z-values. The curve above it represents the likelihood of the values occurring in the sense
that the area under the curve to the left of a specific z-value on the horizontal axis represents the
percentage of real world values that are less than that particular z-value. To approximate these data
percentages (e.g. areas under the curve), we use the z-table.

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.

 Remove Watermark Wondershare
PDFelement
14

Key: z-score= z-value A=Area of normal distribution to the left of z

For example, if we focus on the z-value given by z = 1.25 the area under the curve left
of z = 1.25 pictured below is the percentage of data less than z = 1.25; using the table, we get that
this area is A = 0.8944.
z-score A
1.25 0.8944

For another example if we focus on the z-value given by z = − 0.4 the area under the
curve left of z = − 0.4 pictured below is the percentage of data less than z = − 0.4; using the z-
table, we get that this area is A = 0.3446.

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.

 Remove Watermark Wondershare
PDFelement
15

z-score A
-0.4 0.3446

We can also use the complement rule with the z-table to get areas to the right of a
specified z-value. Since the total area under the curve is 1, the area to the right of a specified z-
value is the area to the left subtracted from 1. For example, the area to the right of z = 1.25 pictured
below, is given by 1−0.8944 = 0.1056

For another example, the area to the right of z = −0.4 pictured below is given by1 −0.3466
= 0.6554

Finally, we can determine areas under the normal curve between two specified z-values
by subtracting the area to the left of the smaller z-value from the area to the left of the larger z-
value. For example, if we want to find the area between z = −0.4 and z = 1.25, we subtract the area
to the left of z = − 0.40 from the area to the left of z = 1.25; in this case, we find that the area
between z = − 0.4 and z = 1.25 is given by 0.8944 − 0.3446 = 0.5498 as pictured below.

Source: Canonigo, 2012

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.

 Remove Watermark Wondershare
PDFelement
16

Learning Competency
The learner finds the area under the standard normal distribution, given various z-scores.

Activity 1
Directions: In your answer sheet, plot the z-score/s in the figure and shade the area.

1. Area to the left of z = - 2 2. Area between z = 0 and z = 1.2

3. Area to the right of z = 2.5 4. Area between z = -1 and z = 1

5. Area to the right of z = 2 6. Area between z = 0.4 and z = 2.6

7. Area to the right of z = -2 8. Area between z = -2.4 and z = 0.95

9. Area to the left of z = 1.2 10. Area between z = - 1.6 and z = - 1.4

Activity 2
Directions: Given the z-scores of the standard normal distribution, find the area.

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.

 Remove Watermark Wondershare
PDFelement
17

1. Area to the left of z = - 2

2. Area between z = 0 and z = 1.2
3. Area to the right of 2.5
4. Area between z = - 1 and z = 1
5. Area to the right of z = 2
6. Area between z = 0.4 and z = 2.6
7. Area to the right of z = -2
8. Area between z = -2.4 and z = 0.95
9. Area to the left of z = 1.2
10. Area between z = - 1.6 and z = - 1.4

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.

 Remove Watermark Wondershare
PDFelement
18

Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times.