MATH 101

Elementary Statistics for the

Health Sciences

Lecture 18
The Normal Distribution

LIZA T. BILLONES, MSc

Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics

College of Arts and Sciences
University of the Philippines Manila
The Normal Distribution
Many processes or data sets closely follow a Normal
Distribution:

heights or weights of people

blood pressure
physical measurements
measurement errors
scores on a test
daily sales
daily number of LRT commuters
daily number of customers
Normal Distribution
Random variable: X

Parameters: and

Notation: X ~ N(, 2)

Density function
Normal Distribution: Characteristics
It is bell-shaped.
Mean, , locates the center.
Standard deviation, , determines the spread.
Normal Distribution: Characteristics
Normal Distribution: Characteristics

= _____

= ______

= _____

= ______
Normal Distribution: Characteristics
There are approximately 3 standard deviations
each to the right and to the left of .

X ~ N(, 2)
Normal Distribution: Characteristics
68.2% of the scores lie within 1 from .
95.4% of the scores lie within 2 s from .
99.7% of the scores lie within 3 s from .
Normal Distribution: Characteristics
It is symmetric about the center (Skewness = 0).
Mean = Median = Mode.
Half of the observations are less than the mean.
Half of the observations are greater than the mean.
Normal X to Standard Normal Z
Any normally distributed variate X can be
transformed to standard normal variate Z by the
following formula:
x
z=

where: z = standard normal score
x = raw score
= mean of the distribution of X
= standard deviation of the distribution of X
Standardize X: Why?
Probability calculations require integration of the pdf:

1
( x )2
e

2 2 ( )
E X =
()
f x =
2
, xR V (X ) = 2

Instead, convert variate X to standard normal variate Z:

1 2
1 z
2
( )
E Z =0
()
f z =
2
e , zR
V (Z ) = 1
The Standard Normal, Z!
1 2
1 z
2
E(X ) = 0
( )
f z =
2
e , zR V (X ) =1

P( -1 < Z < 1) = 0.6827

P( -2 < Z < 2) = 0. 9545

P( -3 < Z < 3) = 0.9973

X versus Z
( )
E X =
2
V (X ) =

( )
E Z =0
V (Z ) = 1
From X to Z
Female Group:
X = scores
X ~ N(36, 64)

Male Group:
X = scores
X ~ N(70, 9)
The Standard Normal Score, z
z locates an x in relation to its mean, , with the
distance expressed in units of its standard deviation.

A positive z-score corresponds to an x-score higher than

the mean.
e.g. z = 2.5 means that the corresponding x-score is 2.5
standard deviations higher than the mean.

A negative z-score corresponds to an x-score lower than

the mean.
e.g. z = -2.5 means that the corresponding x-score is 2.5
standard deviations lower than the mean.
 The Z-Table
The first column of the
table gives the z-score
up to 1 decimal place.

The column headings

give the second decimal
place of the z-score.

The table entry gives

the probability that Z
will be less than a
specified z-score:
P(Z < z).
 The Z-Table
P(Z < z) = area on the left of z
= shaded area
= table entry

What is the probability of

a z less than 1.34?

P(Z <1.34) = 0.9099

0 1.34
 The Z-Table
P(Z > z) = area on the right of z
= unshaded area
= 1- table entry
What is the probability of
a z greater than 1.34?

P(Z > 1.34) = 1- 0.9099

= 0.0901

0 1.34
 The Z-Table
P(z1 < Z > z2) = area in between
z1 and z2
= P(Z<z2) P(Z<z1)
What is the probability of a z
between 0 and 1.34?

P(0<Z<1.34) = P(Z<1.34) P(Z<0)

= 0.9099 0.5000
= 0.4099

0 1.34
The Normal Distribution: Applications
Procedure:
A. Determining the probability/proportion/percentage
1. Convert x to z by the formula z = (x )/
2. Determine the probability using the Z-table.
B. Getting How many .
3. Multiply the probability in A by n, the total count.
C. Determining the raw score, x
1. Use the given probability to get the left-side probability.
2. Locate this probability inside the table, or use the
nearest value, then determine the corresponding z-
score; if it is at the middle of two probability values, use
the mean of the two corresponding z-scores.
3. Convert the z-score to x: x = z + .
The Normal Distribution: Applications
Example 1.

Given a normal distribution with mean equal to 200 and

standard deviation of 10. Determine the following:

a. Area below 210 (Answer: 0.8413 )

b. Area above 180 (Answer: 0.9772 )
c. Area between 182 and 208 (Answer: 0.7522 )
d. X value that has 80% of the area below it
(Answer: 208.4 )
e. Two values containing the middle 75% of the area
Answer: (188.5, 211.5)
Normal Distribution: Applications
Example 2.
The mean of the scores in a Stat exam was 72.8 with a
standard deviation of 17.45. Suppose the scores follow the
normal distribution.

a. What proportion of the students got 80 and above?

(Answer: 0.3409 or 34.09% )
b. If 110 students took the exam, how many got 80 and
above? (Answer: 37)
c. What is the probability that a student will score between
45 and 75? (Answer: 0.4958 )
d. If the department will put a special class consisting of
those in the upper 15% of the class, what should be the
score of the student in order to be included in the class?
(Answer: X 90.9)
The Normal Distribution: Applications
Example 3.
Suppose the weights of 6 year old boys follow the
normal distribution with a mean of 44 lbs and standard
deviation of 5 lbs.
a. What is the proportion of the students between 40
and 48kg? (Answer: )
b. If there are 52 boys, how many are below 42kg?
(Answer: )
c. If there are 700 boys, how many are above 55 lbs?
(Answer: )
d. What percentage of the boys are between 40 and 50
lbs? (Answer: )
e. What are the weights of the middle 90%?
Answer: (35.8, 52.2)