Applying the Normal Distribution and z-Scores Part 1
Watch https://bit.ly/2ZCeonG from 9:30 onwards and review the following:
The number of standard deviations any data value is from the mean is also called its
“standard score” or “z-score”. For data values below the mean, their z-scores will be
negative; for data values above the mean, their z-scores will be positive. An entire normal
curve can be “standardized” like the example below, which has a mean of 1010 and a
standard deviation of 20:
Computing z-scores:
For a Sample:
• z is the "z-score" (Standard Score)
• x is the value to be standardized
• 𝑥̅ is the sample mean
• σ is the standard deviation
Example: A survey of daily travel time was found to be normally distributed, with a mean
travel time of 38.8 minutes and a standard deviation of 11.4 minutes.
a) Label a normal distribution curve for this data with the survey scores and the standard
scores.
b) Standardize (find z-scores for) values of 26 minutes, 33 minutes, and 65 minutes to find
out how many standard deviations each one is from the mean. Then, mark these points on
the normal distribution you created in part a) above.
c) One commuter reported traveling 83 minutes to work. Values larger than 3 standard
deviations from the mean are likely to be outliers. Does this traveler’s time represent a
possible outlier for this data?
Comparing Data With z-Scores
Two students have been nominated for a $500 English Award that will be presented
at graduation. Casey has a mark of 84% and Molly has a mark of 83%. Who should
win the English Award? Casey’s class has a mean of 74 and a standard deviation of 8.
Molly’s class has a mean of 70 and a standard deviation of 9.8.
A fair comparison cannot be made since both distributions are clearly different.
However, a fair comparison can be made if both students’ marks are compared on
the standard normal distribution.
Casey Molly
The z-score table on page 398 is used to find the proportion of data that has an
equal or lesser z-score than a given value.
Percentile: the nth percentile is the data value that is greater than n% of the
population.
Find the percentiles that correspond to Casey and Molly’s z-scores.
What z-value corresponds to the 23rd percentile? 84th percentile?
