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Chapter III
Standard Score and The Normal Distribution
LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
• Identify the properties of the normal

distribution;
• Interpret the mean and the standard deviation
in the context of normal curve;
• Compute the percentage of areas between the
given points under a normal curve;
Lecture Notes
The normal distribution is the most important and most widely used distribution in
statistics. It is sometimes called the “bell curve,” although the tonal qualities of such a bell
would be less than pleasing. It is also called the “Gaussian curve” of Gaussian distribution after
the mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss.
Strictly speaking, it is not correct to talk about “the normal distribution” since there are many
normal distributions. Normal distributions can differ in their means and in their standard
deviations. Figure 1 shows three normal distributions. The green (left-most) distribution has a
mean of -3 and a standard deviation of 0.5, the distribution in red (the middle distribution) has a
mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1, and the distribution in black (right-most) has a mean of
2 and a standard deviation of 3. These as well as all other normal distributions are symmetric
with relatively more values at the center of the distribution and relatively few in the tails. What is
consistent about all normal distribution is the shape and the proportion of scores within a given
distance along the x-axis. We will focus on the Standard Normal Distribution (also known as the
Unit Normal Distribution), which has a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1 (i.e. the red
distribution in Figure 1).
Seven features of normal distributions are listed below.
1. Normal distributions are symmetric around their mean.

2. The mean, median, and mode of a normal distribution are equal.
3. The area under the normal curve is equal to 1.0.
4. Normal distributions are denser in the center and less dense in the tails.
5. Normal distributions are defined by two parameters, the mean (μ) and the standard
deviation (σ).
6. 68% of the area of a normal distribution is within one standard deviation of the mean.
7. Approximately 95% of the area of a normal distribution is within two standard deviations
of the mean.
These properties enable us to use the normal distribution to understand how scores relate to
one another within and across a distribution. But first, we need to learn how to calculate the
standardized score than make up a standard normal distribution.
STANDARD SCORES
Standards scores, more commonly reffered to as a z-score is very useful statistic because
it allows to calculate the probability of a score occuring within the normal distribution. These are
universally understood units in testing that allow test users to evaluate a person’s performance
in reference to other persons who took the same or similar test.
AREAS UNDER THE NORMAL CURVE
Areas under a curve can be computed using z-score and z-table.
For example, you want to know what percent of the total population of a certain place is
member of youth with ages from 16 to 20. You can do it through calculation of areas under
curve.
In solving the areas under curve, you need to compute for the z-score equivalent of the
values being considered in the problem in which mean is always having a z-score of zero. After
getting the z-score equivalent of eah value, the area under the curve that corresponds to the
values considered can be seen in the z-table.
To calculate for the z-score equivalent of a certain value in a given data, the given equation
below must be used.
𝒙−𝒙̅
𝒁=
𝝈
Where: 𝑥 = value from the data

𝑥̅ = mean of the data
𝜎 = standard deviation of the data
Example: The average score of the 500 students who took the Mathematics departmental
exam is 78 with a standard deviation of 11. Find the percentage of the total students who
scored from 50 to 78.
Solution:
Solving for the z-score equivalent of 50.
𝑥−𝑥̅
𝑍= 𝜎
50−78
𝑍= = -2.55
11
Getting the Area
The table shown below is part of the z-table for areas under the normal curve that can
be found in the appendices.
Figure 3.2
By looking the table, the area under the normal curve from z = 0 to z = 2.55 (left of the
mean, since the z-score calculated is negative) is 0.4946.
Figure 3.3
Therefore, the percentage of the students who score from 50 to 78 is 49.46%.

Teacher’s Insights
The “bell curve” is a normal distribution. A normal distribution has equal mean,
median and mode. It is also symmetry about the center.
A standard normal deviation is a special case of the normal distribution. It is a distribution
that has a mean of zero and standard deviation of one.
Standard score (z-score) gives you an idea of how far from the mean a data point
is. But more technically it’s a measure of how many standard deviations below or above
the population mean a raw score is.

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Chapter III

Standard Score and The Normal Distribution

• Identify the properties of the normal

1. Normal distributions are symmetric around their mean.

AREAS UNDER THE NORMAL CURVE

Areas under a curve can be computed using z-score and z-table.

Where: 𝑥 = value from the data

Solving for the z-score equivalent of 50.

Getting the Area

Therefore, the percentage of the students who score from 50 to 78 is 49.46%.

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