UNDERSTANDING THE NORMAL

CURVE
Activity: Visualizing a Frequency Distribution
Task:
1. Sketch the frequency polygon of X(score) f
21 2
the data
20 5
2. Describe the shape of the 19 7
polygon 18 11
3. The scores are ordered the 17 6
lowest to the highest. What can you 16 3
observe about the frequencies of 15 1
the scores? N 35

Properties of the Normal Probability Distribution

The normal probability distribution has the
following properties:
1. The distribution curve is bell-shaped.
2. The curve is symmetrical
about its center
3. The mean, the median and
the mode coincide at the
center.
4. The width of the curve is
determined by the standard
deviation of the distribution
5. The tails of the curve flatten out indefinitely along the
horizontal axis, always approaching the axis but never touching
it. That is, the curve is asymptotic to the base line.
6. The area under the curve is 1. Thus, it represent the
probabilities or proportion or the percentage associated with
specific sets of measurement values.
The standard normal curve is a normal probability distribution that
is describe by the equation:
2
1 X

2
e
Y
2
Where:
Y= height of the curve particular values of X
X = any score in the distribution
=Standard deviation of the population
=mean of the population
=3.1416
e = 2.7183

The Standard Normal Curve

A standard normal curve is a normal probability
distribution that has a mean =0 and a standard deviation
=1

Find the corresponding area between z = 0 and each of the

following:
1. Z = 0.96 4. Z = 2.69
2. Z = 1.74 5. Z = 3.00
3. 3. Z = 2.18