Statistics & Probability
Grade 11
Activity Sheet II
The Standard Normal Distribution
Basic Concepts
A probability distribution is a correspondence that assign probabilities
to the values of a random variable.
A probability distribution may evolve from a discrete random
variable(if its set of possible outcomes is countable) or from a
continuous random variable(if it takes on values from within an
interval or disjoint union of intervals)
Properties of the Standard Normal Distribution
The following are the properties that can be observed from the
graph of a normal distribution, also known as Gaussian distribution.
1. The graph is a continuous curve and has a domain -∞ < X < ∞.
• This means that X may increase or decrease without bound.
2. The graph is asymptotic to the x-axis. The value of the variable gets
closer and closer but will never be equal to 0.
• As the x gets larger and larger in the positive direction, the tail of
the
curve approaches but will never touch the horizontal axis. The same thing
when the x gets larger and larger in the negative direction.
3. The highest point on the curve occurs at x = µ (mean).
• The mean (µ) indicates the highest peak of the curve and is found
at
the center.
• Take note that the mean is denoted by this symbol µ and the
standard deviation is denoted by this symbol .6
• The median and mode of the distribution are also found at the
center
of the graph. This indicates that in a normal distribution, the mean,
median and mode are equal.
4. The curve is symmetrical about the mean.
• This means that the curve will have
balanced proportions when cut in halves and
the area under the curve to the right of mean
(50%) is equal to the area under the curve to
the left of the mean (50%).
5. The total area in the normal distribution under the curve is equal to 1.
• Since the mean divides the curve into halves, 50% of the area is
to the right and 50% to its left having a total of 100% or 1.
6. In general, the graph of a normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve with
two inflection points, one on the left and
another on the right. Inflection points are the points that mark the change
in the curve’s concavity.
• Inflection point is the point at
which a change in the direction of curve at mean minus standard
deviation and mean plus standard deviation.
• Note that each inflection point of the normal curve is one standard
deviation away from the mean.
7. Every normal curve corresponds to the “empirical rule” (also called the
68 - 95 - 99.7% rule):
• about 68.3% of the area under the
curve falls within 1 standard
deviation of the mean
• about 95.4% of the area under
the curve falls within 2 standard
deviations of the mean
• about 99.7% of the area under
the curve falls within 3 standard
deviations of the mean.
Consider the following examples:
1. Suppose the mean is 60 and the standard deviation is 5, sketch a
normal
curve for the distribution. This is how it would look like.
2. A continuous random variable X is normally distributed with a mean of
45
and standard deviation of 6. Illustrate a normal curve and find the
probability of the following:
a. P (39 < X < 51) = 68.3% c. P (X > 45) = 50%
*Since the area covered is 1 standard * Since the area covered is of the deviation
to the left and to the right. half curve.
b. P (33 < X < 63) = 97.55% d. P (X < 39) = 15.85%
