Assessing Normality

Basic Statistics for Process

Control Not all continuous random variables are
Winter 2024
normally distributed
It is important to evaluate how well the data set
is approximated by a normal distribution
Chapter 6
Part 2

The Normal Distribution and

Other Continuous Distributions
Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-1 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-2

Assessing Normality Assessing Normality

(continued) (continued)
Construct charts or graphs Observe the distribution of the data set
For small- or moderate-sized data sets, do stem-and-
Do approximately 2/3 of the observations lie within
leaf display and box-and-whisker plot look
mean 1 standard deviation?
symmetric?
Do approximately 80% of the observations lie within
For large data sets, does the histogram or polygon
mean 1.28 standard deviations?
appear bell-shaped?
Do approximately 95% of the observations lie within
Compute descriptive summary measures mean 2 standard deviations?
Do the mean, median and mode have similar values? Evaluate normal probability plot
Is the interquartile range approximately 1.33 ? Is the normal probability plot approximately linear
Is the range approximately 6 ? with positive slope?

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-3 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-4

The Normal Probability Plot The Normal Probability Plot

(continued)

Normal probability plot A normal probability plot for data

Arrange data into ordered array
from a normal distribution will be
approximately linear:
Find corresponding standardized normal quantile
values X
90
Plot the pairs of points with observed data values on
the vertical axis and the standardized normal quantile 60
values on the horizontal axis 30
Evaluate the plot for evidence of linearity
-2 -1 0 1 2 Z

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-5 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-6
 Normal Probability Plot The Uniform Distribution
(continued)

Left-Skewed Right-Skewed Probability

Distributions
X 90 X 90
60 60 Continuous
30 30 Probability
-2 -1 0 1 2 Z -2 -1 0 1 2 Z
Distributions

Rectangular Normal
X 90 Nonlinear plots
indicate a deviation Uniform
60
from normality
30 Exponential
-2 -1 0 1 2 Z
Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-7 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-8

The Uniform Distribution The Uniform Distribution

(continued)

The Continuous Uniform Distribution:

The uniform distribution is a
1
probability distribution that has equal b a
if a X b

probabilities for all possible f(X) =

outcomes of the random variable 0 otherwise

where
f(X) = value of the density function at any X value
Also called a rectangular distribution a = minimum value of X
b = maximum value of X

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-9 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-10

Properties of the
Uniform Distribution Uniform Distribution Example

Example: Uniform probability distribution

The mean of a uniform distribution is
a b
2
1
f(X) = 6 - 2 = .25 for 2

The standard deviation is f(X)

a b 2 6
4
.25 2 2
2
(b - a)
(b - a) 2 (6 - 2) 2
12 1 . 1547
2 6 X 12 12

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-11 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-12
Uniform Distribution Uniform Distribution

Uniform Distribution Uniform Distribution

Uniform Distribution The Exponential Distribution

Probability
Distributions

Continuous
Probability
Distributions

Normal

Uniform

Exponential

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-18
 The Exponential Distribution The Exponential Distribution

Used to model the length of time between two Defined by a single parameter, its mean
occurrences of an event (the time between (lambda)
arrivals) The probability that an arrival time is less than
some specified time X is
Examples:
X
Time between trucks arriving at an unloading dock P(arrival time X) 1 e
Time between transactions at an ATM Machine
Time between phone calls to the main operator
where e = mathematical constant approximated by 2.71828
= the population mean number of arrivals per unit
X = any value of the continuous variable where 0 < X <

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-19 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-20

Exponential Distribution Exponential Distribution

Example Example

Example: Customers arrive at the service counter at

the rate of 15 per hour. What is the probability that the
arrival time between consecutive customers is less
than three minutes?

The mean number of arrivals per hour is 15, so = 15

Three minutes is .05 hours
P(arrival time < .05) = 1 e- X =1 e-(15)(.05) = .5276
So there is a 52.76% probability that the arrival time
between successive customers is less than three
minutes
Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-21 Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-22

Exponential Distribution Exponential Distribution

Example Example

Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel, 4e © 2004 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chap 6-24