Subject Matter:

The Normal
Distribution
Learning Objectives

1. Describe the use of the normal

distribution to measure probabilities.
2. Determine the areas of the normal
curve's region.
3. Define the different characteristics of
the normal curve.
Introduction

The normal distribution is perhaps the most essential of the many

continuous distributions used in statistics theory. Its origins can be traced
back to an 18th-century study into the nature of experimental errors.
Disparities between repeated measurements of the same physical quantity
were observed to be displayed by a specific type of continuous
distribution curve, known as the "normal curve of errors," it is attributed
to the laws of chance. For illustration, it has been discovered that the
weights of a large number of people are roughly normally distributed. A
similar observation can be made about the distribution of people's
intelligence quotients. Pierre Laplace (1749-1827), Abraham De Moive
(1667-1745), and Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) were the first to
interrogate the mathematical relationships and theoretical model of this
type of constant bell curve.
A distribution curve figure is a bell-shaped curve that
stretches in both directions indefinitely. Below is
the normal distribution's mean and standard
deviation figure.
 Lesson Proper
A probability function that describes how the
values of a variable are distributed is known as
the normal distribution. It is a symmetric
distribution in which the majority of observations
cluster around the central peak and the
probabilities for values further away from the
mean taper off in both directions equally. Extreme
values in both tails of the distribution are also
improbable.
Characteristics of Normal Curve

1. A probability is said to be normal if the average, midpoint,

and mode all aligns at the same point: for example, the mean,
median, and mode values are all equivalent.
2. The mean is intersected by a line dividing the normal curve
into two parts. The area on the left half of the curve equals the
area on the right half, indicating symmetry about the mean.
3. The normal curve's right and left tails are asymptotic with
relative to the horizontal axis.
4. The slope of the linear equals 1 or 100 percent, and 0.5 to the
left and right of the average value equal to 0.
The fact that we can completely determine the
equation of a normal distribution if we know its
mean and standard deviation s is an important
feature. Instead, we tabulate these areas only for a
normal distribution with a mean of zero and a
standard deviation of one, also known as a
standard normal distribution. To put it another
way, there is only one normal distribution with a
given mean and standard deviation s.
As a result, we can simply obtain areas under any normal curve by
performing a simple scale change known as the standard score.
The standard score, also known as the z-value, is a type of
transformed score that compares a raw score to the mean and
standard deviation of a distribution. As long as we know the
mean and standard deviation we can compute the standard score
for every raw score and the raw score for every standard score.
The mean represents the center of the normal distribution,
whereas the standard deviation represents the degree of spread of
the scores. Using the formula, we convert the measurement units
into standard units, standard scores, or z scores.
The Formula
Where: z=
z= standard deviation
µ= mean (sometimes denoted as x)
s= standard deviation
x = given value of particular variable

In this new scale, z simply indicates how many standard

deviations above or below the mean the corresponding x
value is.
Example 1
Let x a normal random variable with
= 10 and s = 5.
Calculate the following:
1.1. P (10 x 12)
1.2. P (8 x 10)
1.3. P ( 8 x 12)
Solutions
1.1. For P (10 ≤ x ≤ 12), we need to calculate the z values for x = 10 and x = 12.
When x =10,
z=
z=
z=0
When x = 12
z=
z=

z = 0.4
Hence by using table 1 we have:
P (10 x 12) = P (0 z 0.4 ) = 0.1554
1.2. For P (8 x 10), the z value for x = 8 is
z=
z=
z = - 0.4

Thus,
P (8 x 10) = P (- 0.4 z 0) = 0.1554
1.3. For P ( 8 x 12), we have: P ( 8 x 12)
= P( -0.4 z 0.4 )
= P (- 0.4 z 0) + P( 0 z
0.4 )
= 0.1554 + 0.1554
= 0.3108
Example 2
Calculate the following
probabilities:
2.1. P (z 1)
2.2. P (z 1)
Solutions
2.1. The area to the right of z = 0 equals 0.5, now the
area from z = 0 to z = 1, denoted by P ( 0 ≤ z ≤ 1 ),
is given the figure below from the table 1 above P ( 0
≤ z ≤ 1 ).Thus ,P (z 1) = 0.5000 – 0.3413 = 0.1587 

P(0≤z≤1)
2.2 The total area to the left of z = 0 is 0.5000. Also
P( 1.54 z ≤ 0) = P ( 0 ≤ z ≤ 1.54). The desired area is
given in the figure below. Thus, P ( 0 z -1.54) =
0.5000 – 0.4382 = 0.0618

-1.54
On Example 3 the average grade was
an examination,
76 and the standard deviation was 6. If 9%
of the class are given 1.5 and the grades are
to follow a normal distribution. Compute
the lowest and the highest possible grade
for 1.25.
Solution
First we compute the value of z and determine the corresponding
value of x from the formula x = σ z + µ . The area of 0.09
corresponds to students receiving the grade of 1.25 as indicated
in the figure below. We need the value of z corresponding to the
area 0.41. using Table 1, we get z = 1.34. this implies P (0 ≤ z ≤
1.34) = 0.41

9%
0 z= 1.34
To compute the value of x
corresponding to z = 1.34, we have
x = σ z +µ
= 6 (1.34) + 76 = 84.04
Thus the highest possible grade of 1.5
is 85, and the lowest grade is 84. 
Exercises
1. Find the z value for each of the following x values for a normal
distribution with x = 16 and s = 3.
1.1 x= 11
1.2 x =22
1.3. x =18
2. Find the following area under a normal distribution curve with = 12 and
s=2
2.1. area between x= 7.8 and x =12
3. Find the a) mean b) the standard deviation on an examination in grades
of 70 and 88 corresponds to standard score of – 0.6 and 1.4 respectively.
 
Video Presentation
References
Daryit, B.,Hernandez, R.,Ymas,S., (2017) College
Statistrics Revised Edition at Ymas
Publishing House.
https://youtu.be/zegZ7OvSzV0
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