Normal

Probability
Curve
By:
Keerthi Samuel.K,
Lecturer
Vijay Marie College Of Nursing
 INTRODUCTION
• All the observations in the selected sample
should be around the mean. This phenomena
is called normal probability or normal
distribution.
• Some variables deviate from mean which are
measured by using measures of dispersion
like standard deviation.
 INTRODUCTION
• For individual and discreete series poison
distribution curve is used whereas for
continuous data normal distribution is used,
which is also called normal probability
distribution.
• Many statistical data in medicine are
displayed in the form of normal curve.
POISSION CURVE OR BIMODAL
CURVE
 NORMAL PROBABILITY CURVE
• It was first discovered by De.Moivre as a
limitation of poison model in 1773.
• But the credit comes to Karl Gauss who first
made the reference in 1809.
 PRINCIPLES
• When a large number of samples like height
and weight are collected, a frequency
distribution table is prepared by keeping
small class interval. Then the features are
seen as:
1. Some observations are above the mean and
some are below the mean.
2. If they are arranged in an order , maximum
of them will be around the mean and fewer
at the extremes
 PRINCIPLES
decreasing smoothly on both the sides.
3. Normally half the observations are
symmetrically distributed on each side of the
mean.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS TYPE OR

SHAPE IS CALLED NORMAL
DISTRIBUTION OR GAUSSIAN
DISTRIBUTION
 Properties of Normal
Distributions
The most important probability distribution in
statistics is the normal distribution.

Normal curve

A normal distribution is a continuous probability

distribution for a random variable, x. The graph of a
normal distribution is called the normal curve .
PERCENTAGE OF AREA
UNDER THE GRAPH
 Properties of Normal
Distributions
• I t is b e ll sh a p e d
• I t is s y m m e t r ic a l
• I t h a s a sin g l e p e a k a n d h en ce it
is u n im o d a l
• Th e m e a n o f th e n o r m a ll y
d is t r ib u te d p o pu la ti on lie s in th e
c e n te r o f t h e c u r ve
• The mean, median, and mode are
equal.
• The total area under the curve is
equal to one.
 Properties of Normal
Distributions
• The normal curve approaches, but never touches the x- axis as
it extends farther and farther away from the mean.
• Between μ  σ and μ + σ (in the center of the curve), the graph
curves downward. The graph curves upward to
the left of μ  σ and to the right of μ + σ. The points
at which the curve changes from curving upward to curving
downward are called the inflection points.
 Properties of Normal
Distributions
Inflection points

Total area = 1

x
μ  3σ μ  2σ μσ μ μ+σ μ + 2σ μ + 3σ

If x is a continuous random variable having a normal

distribution with mean μ and standard deviation σ, you can
graph a normal curve with the equation
2

1
 Means and Standard
Deviations
Example:
2. Which curve has the greater mean?
3. Which curve has the greater standard deviation?

B
A

x
1 3 5 7 9 11 13

The line of symmetry of curve A occurs at x = 5. The line of symmetry

of curve B occurs at x = 9. Curve B has the greater mean.

Curve B is more spread out than curve A, so curve B has the greater standard
deviation.

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World , 3 e 1

 Interpreting Graphs
Example:
The heights of fully grown magnolia bushes are normally
distributed. The curve represents the distribution. What is the
mean height of a fully grown magnolia bush?
Estimate the standard deviation.
The inflection points are one standard
deviation away from the
mean.

x
6 7 8 9 10
Height (in feet)

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World , 3 e 1

The heights of the magnolia bushes are normally
distributed with a mean height of about 8 feet and a
standard deviation of about 0.7 feet.
 The Standard Normal
Distribution
The standard normal distribution is a normal
distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

The horizontal scale

corresponds to z-scores.

z
3 2 1 0 1 2 3

Any value can be transformed into a z-score by using the formula

z = Value - Mean =
xμ- .
Larson &Standard deviation
Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World , 3 eσ 16
Construction of a normal curve
• We need mean and SD . There are two methods:

 The ordinate method

 The area method

THE ORDINATE METHOD:

• Mark the midpoints to the class interval

• For each x, we find standard normal deviate the z score.

z= Value - Mean
Standard deviation
• Find the ordinate at each of these distances from z table
• Multiply each of these by 0.39 and take this values
frequencies corresponding to midpoints.
 m f Z
10-20 15 2 2-31/3=10
20-30 25 1 1-31/3
30-40 35 3 3-31/3
40-50 45 2 2-31/3
N=8
Construction of a normal curve

• THE AREA METHOD:

The tabular values of different normal deviates are found with

the help of table of areas.
The percent of area in each class is found and it is multipled by
n; the expected frequencies of each class can be worked out.
 VARIATIONS IN NPC

skewness is asymmetry in a statistical distribution, in which the

curve appears distorted or skewed either to the left or to the
right. Skewness can be quantified to define the extent to which a
distribution differs from a normal distribution.
 VARIATIONS IN NPC
Kurtosis is a statistical measure
that defines how heavily the tails
of a distribution differ from the
tails of a normal distribution. In
other words, kurtosis identifies
whether the tails of a given
distribution contain extreme
values.