Download standard deviations from the mean

Chapter 6
The Standard Deviation as a
Ruler and the Normal Model
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Objectives:

The student will be able to:
 Compare values from two different distributions
using their z-scores.
 Use Normal models (when appropriate) and
the 68-95-99.7 Rule to estimate the
percentage of observations falling within one,
two, or three standard deviations of the mean.
 Determine the percentages of observations
that satisfy certain conditions by using the
Normal model and determine “extraordinary”
values.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 2
Standardizing with z-scores

We compare individual data values to their mean,
relative to their standard deviation using the
following formula:
y  y

z
s

We call the resulting values standardized values,
denoted as z. They can also be called z-scores.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 4
Benefits of Standardizing
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Standardized values have been converted from
their original units to the standard statistical unit
of standard deviations from the mean.
Thus, we can compare values that are measured
on different scales, with different units, or from
different populations.
Example – Which student performed better?
Student A received a 85 on a 100 point quiz with
a mean of 90 and standard deviation of 5.
Student B received a 35 on a 50 point quiz with a
mean of 37 and a standard deviation of 3. We
must compare z-scores!
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 6
Examples

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Suppose your stats professor reports your test
grade as a z-score and you received a score of
2.20. What does that mean?
Text #14, 15, 20
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 7
Back to z-scores

Standardizing data into z-scores shifts the data
by subtracting the mean and rescales the values
by dividing by their standard deviation.
 Standardizing into z-scores does not change
the shape of the distribution.
 Standardizing into z-scores changes the center
by making the mean 0.
 Standardizing into z-scores changes the
spread by making the standard deviation 1.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 8
When Is a z-score BIG?
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A z-score gives us an indication of how unusual a
value is because it tells us how far it is from the
mean.
Remember that a negative z-score tells us that
the data value is below the mean, while a positive
z-score tells us that the data value is above the
mean.
The larger a z-score is (negative or positive), the
more unusual it is.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 9
When Is a z-score Big? (cont.)
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There is no universal standard for z-scores, but
there is a model that shows up over and over in
Statistics.
This model is called the Normal model (You may
have heard of “bell-shaped curves.”).
Normal models are appropriate for distributions
whose shapes are unimodal and roughly
symmetric.
These distributions provide a measure of how
extreme a z-score is.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 10
When Is a z-score Big? (cont.)

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Once we have standardized, we need only one
model:
 The N(0,1) model is called the standard
Normal model (or the standard Normal
distribution).
Be careful—don’t use a Normal model for just any
data set, since standardizing does not change the
shape of the distribution.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 13
Checking Conditions…
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When we use the Normal model, we are
assuming the distribution is Normal.
We cannot check this assumption in practice, so
we check the following condition:
 Nearly Normal Condition: The shape of the
data’s distribution is unimodal and symmetric.
 This condition can be checked by making a
histogram or a Normal probability plot (to be
explained later).
 Depending on the type of data, a Normal
Model can be assumed
Slide 1- 14
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
The 68-95-99.7 Rule (cont.)

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Normal models give us an idea of how extreme a
value is by telling us how likely it is to find one
that far from the mean.
It turns out that in a Normal model:
 about 68% of the values fall within one
standard deviation of the mean;
 about 95% of the values fall within two
standard deviations of the mean; and,
 about 99.7% (almost all!) of the values fall
within three standard deviations of the mean.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 15
The 68-95-99.7 Rule (cont.)

The following shows what the 68-95-99.7 Rule
tells us:
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 16
Finding Normal Percentiles by Hand
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When a data value doesn’t fall exactly 1, 2, or 3
standard deviations from the mean, we can look it
up in a table of Normal percentiles.
Table Z in Appendix D provides us with normal
percentiles, but many calculators and statistics
computer packages provide these as well.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 17
Finding Normal Percentiles by Hand (cont.)
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Table Z is the standard Normal table. We have to convert
our data to z-scores before using the table.
The figure shows us how to find the area to the left when
we have a z-score of 1.80:
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 18
From Percentiles to Scores: z in Reverse
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Sometimes we start with areas and need to find
the corresponding z-score or even the original
data value.
Example: What z-score represents the first
quartile in a Normal model?
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 19
From Percentiles to Scores: z in Reverse
(cont.)
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Look in Table Z for an area of 0.2500.
The exact area is not there, but 0.2514 is pretty
close.
This figure is associated with z = -0.67, so the
first quartile is 0.67 standard deviations below the
mean.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 20
Percentiles and Z-scores by hand examples
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What percent of a standard Normal model is found in each
region? Draw a picture for each - use Table Z in Appendix
D of your text
a)
z > -2.05
b)
z < -0.33
c)
1.2 < z < 1.8
d)
|z| < 1.28
In a standard Normal model, what value(s) of z cut(s) off the
region described? Draw a picture first!
a)
The highest 20%
b)
The highest 75%
c)
The lowest 3%
d)
The middle 90%
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 21
Finding Normal Percentiles using
Technology – TI-83

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To find what percentage of a standard Normal model
is found in the region a < z < b (note, for infinity use
any large number or 1E99!) use the DISTR function
normalcdf(a,b)
Draw a picture by first setting window to Xmin=-4,
Xmax=4, Ymin=-.1, Ymax=.4
 Then use DISTR -> DRAW -> ShadeNorm(a,b)
Note: we can skip the step of calculating z-scores by giving normalcdf
additional parameters: normalcdf(a,b,μ,σ)
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 22
Finding the z-score given percentile using
technology– TI-83
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To find the z-score with a given tail probability,
use the DISTR function invNorm(p).

we can skip converting from a z-score to a raw score
by typing: invNorm(p,μ,σ)
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 23
Percentiles and Z-scores using the TI-83
examples
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What percent of a standard Normal model is found in each
region? Draw a picture for each
a)
z > -1.05
b)
z < -0.40
c)
- .5 < z < 1.8
In a standard Normal model, what value(s) of z cut(s) off the
region described? Draw a picture first!
a)
The highest 20%
b)
The highest 60%
c)
The lowest 6%
d)
The middle 75%
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 24
Are You Normal?
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When you actually have your own data, you must
check to see whether a Normal model is
reasonable.
Looking at a histogram of the data is a good way
to check that the underlying distribution is roughly
unimodal and symmetric.
A more specialized graphical display that can
help you decide whether a Normal model is
appropriate is the Normal probability plot.
If the distribution of the data is roughly Normal,
the Normal probability plot approximates a
diagonal straight line. Deviations from a straight
line indicate that the distribution is not Normal.
Slide 1- 25
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Are You Normal? Normal Probability Plots (cont)

Nearly Normal data have a histogram and a
Normal probability plot that look somewhat like
this example:
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Slide 1- 26
Are You Normal? Normal Probability Plots (cont)

A skewed distribution might have a histogram
and Normal probability plot like this:
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 27
What Can Go Wrong?
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Don’t use a Normal model
when the distribution is not
unimodal and symmetric.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 28
What have we learned? (cont.)

We see the importance of Thinking about
whether a method will work:
 Normality Assumption: We sometimes work
with Normal tables (Table Z). These tables are
based on the Normal model.
 Data can’t be exactly Normal, so we check the
Nearly Normal Condition by making a
histogram (is it unimodal, symmetric and free
of outliers?) or a normal probability plot (is it
straight enough?).
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 29
Additional exercises
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Text #28,
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Some IQ tests are standardized to a normal model
with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16.
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A) Draw the model for these IQ scores clearly labeling
showing what the 68-95-99.7 Rule predicts about the
scores
B) In what interval would you expect to find the central
95% of IQ scores to be found?
C) About what percent of people should have IQ scores
above 116?
D) About what percent of people should have IQ scores
between 68 and 84?
E) About what percent of people whould have IQ scores
above 132?
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 30
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44) Based on the Normal model N(100, 16)
describing IQ scores, what percent of people’s IQ
scores would you expect to be
 Over 80?
 Under 90?
 Between 112 and 132?
46) In the same model, what cutoff value bounds
 The highest 5% of all IQs?
 The lowest 30% of the IQs?
 The middle 80% of the IQs?
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Slide 1- 31

#32) A company that manufactures rivets
believes the shear strength in pounds is modeled
by N(800, 50).
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Draw and label the Normal Model
Would it be safe to use these rivets in a situation
requiring a shear strength of 750 pounds? Explain?
About what percent of rivets would you expect to fall
below 900 pounds?
Rivets are used in a variety of applications with varying
shear strength requirements. What is the maximum
shear strength for which you would feel comfortable
approving this company’s rivets? Explain.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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