Chapter 5

Normal Probability
Distributions

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Chapter Outline

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 Section 5.1

Introduction to Normal Distributions

and the Standard Normal Distributions

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 Section 5.1 Objectives
• How to interpret graphs of normal probability
distributions
• How to find areas under the standard normal curve

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 Properties of a Normal
Distribution
Continuous random variable
• Has an infinite number of possible values that can be
represented by an interval on the number line.

Hours spent studying in a day The time spent

studying can be any
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 number between 0
and 24.
Continuous probability distribution
• The probability distribution of a continuous random
variable.

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 Properties of a Normal
Distribution
Normal distribution
• A continuous probability distribution for a random
variable, x.
• The most important continuous probability
distribution in statistics.
• The graph of a normal distribution is called the
normal curve.

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 Properties of a Normal
Distribution
1. The mean, median, and mode are equal.
2. The normal curve is bell-shaped and is symmetric
about the mean.
3. The total area under the normal curve is equal to one.
4. The normal curve approaches, but never touches the
x-axis as it extends farther and farther away from the
mean.
Total area = 1

x
μ
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 Properties of a Normal Distribution
5. 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.
Inflection points

x
μ  3σ μ  2σ μσ μ μ+σ μ + 2σ μ + 3σ
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 Probability Density Function (PDF)
• A discrete probability distribution can be graphed
with a histogram.
• For a continuous probability distribution, you can
use a probability density function (pdf).
• A probability density function has two
requirements:
1. the total area under the curve is equal to
1
2. the function can never be negative.

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 Means and Standard
Deviations
• A normal distribution can have any mean and any
positive standard deviation.
• The mean gives the location of the line of symmetry.
• The standard deviation describes the spread of the data.

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 Example: Understanding
Mean and Standard Deviation
1. Which curve has the greater mean?

Solution:
Curve A has the greater mean (The line of symmetry
of curve A occurs at x = 15. The line of symmetry of
curve B occurs at x = 12.)
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 Example: Understanding
Mean and Standard Deviation
2. Which curve has the greater standard deviation?

Solution:
Curve B has the greater standard deviation (Curve
B is more spread out than curve A.)

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 Example: Interpreting Graphs
of Normal Distributions
The scaled test scores for New York State Grade 4
Common Core Mathematics Test are normally
distributed. The normal curve shown below represents
this distribution. What is the mean test score? Estimate
the standard deviation of this normal distribution.
(Adapted from New York State Education Department)

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 Solution: Interpreting Graphs
of Normal Distributions
Solution:

The scaled test scores for the New York State Grade 4
Common Core Mathematics Test are normally
distributed with a mean of about 305 and a standard
deviation of about 40.
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 Solution: Interpreting Graphs
of Normal Distributions
Solution:

Using the Empirical, you know that about 68% of the

scores are between 265 and 345, about 95% of the
scores are between 225 and 385, and about 99.7% of the
scores are between 185 and 425.
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 The Standard Normal
Distribution
Standard normal distribution
• A normal distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard
deviation of 1.

Area = 1

z
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
• Any x-value can be transformed into a z-score by
using the formula
Value  Mean x
z 
Standard deviation 
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 The Standard Normal
Distribution
The standard normal distribution is a normal
distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation
of 1. The total area under its normal curve is 1.

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 Properties of the Standard
Normal Distribution
1. The cumulative area is close to 0 for z-scores close
to z = 3.49.
2. The cumulative area increases as the z-scores
increase.

Area is
close to 0 z
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
z = 3.49
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 Properties of the Standard
Normal Distribution
3. The cumulative area for z = 0 is 0.5000.
4. The cumulative area is close to 1 for z-scores close
to z = 3.49.

Area
z
is close to 1
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
z=0 z = 3.49
Area is 0.5000
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 Example: Using The Standard
Normal Table
1. Find the cumulative area that corresponds to a z-
score of 1.15.

Solution:
Find 1.1 in the left hand column.
Move across the row to the column under 0.05
The area to the left of z = 1.15 is 0.8749.
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 Example: Using The Standard
Normal Table
2. Find the cumulative area that corresponds to a z-
score of 0.24.

Solution:
Find 0.2 in the left hand column.
Move across the row to the column under 0.04.
The area to the left of z = 0.24 is 0.4052.
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 Finding Areas Under the
Standard Normal Curve
1. Sketch the standard normal curve and shade the
appropriate area under the curve.
2. Find the area by following the directions for each
case shown.
a. To find the area to the left of z, find the area that
corresponds to z in the Standard Normal Table.
2. The area to the left
of z = 1.23 is 0.8907

1. Use the table to find

the area for the z-score
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 Finding Areas Under the
Standard Normal Curve
b. To find the area to the right of z, use the Standard
Normal Table to find the area that corresponds to
z. Then subtract the area from 1.

2. The area to the 3. Subtract to find the area

left of z = 1.23 to the right of z = 1.23:
is 0.8907. 1  0.8907 =
0.1093.

1. Use the table to find the

area for the z-score.
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 Finding Areas Under the
Standard Normal Curve
c. To find the area between two z-scores, find the
area corresponding to each z-score in the
Standard Normal Table. Then subtract the
smaller area from the larger area.
2. The area to the 4. Subtract to find the area of
left of z = 1.23 the region between the two
is 0.8907. z-scores:
3. The area to the 0.8907  0.2266 = 0.6641.
left of z = 0.75
is 0.2266.

1. Use the table to find the

area for the z-scores.
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 Example: Finding Area Under
the Standard Normal Curve
Find the area under the standard normal curve to the left
of z = –0.99.
Solution:

From the Standard Normal Table,

the area is equal to 0.1611.
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 Example: Finding Area Under
the Standard Normal Curve
Find the area under the standard normal curve to the
right of z = 1.06.
Solution:

From the Standard Normal Table,

the area is equal to 0.1446.
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 Example: Finding Area Under
the Standard Normal Curve
Find the area under the standard normal curve between
z = 1.5 and z = 1.25.
Solution:

From the Standard Normal Table, the area is

equal to 0.8276. So, 82.76% of the area under
the curve falls between z = 1.5 and z = 1.25.
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