NORMAL PROBABILITY CURVE

Dr. K uldeep
Kaur
20,20,20,20,20, 20,20,20,20,20
 History
⚫Laplace and Gauss
(1777-1855) ,derived
the normal
probability curve
independently,so the
curve is also known
as gaussian curve in
the honor of Gauss.
 Introduction
⚫NPC is the frequency polygon of any normal
distribution.It is an ideal symmetrical
frequency curve and is supposed to be based
on the data of a population.

⚫Normal probability curve,is bell shaped

curve and a graph representing a
distribution of scores.
 34.1% 34.1%

13.6% 13.6%
2.15 2.15
% %

SIGMA SCORES SIGMA

SC ORES
68.2%
95.4%

99.7%
Characteristics/Properties of
NPC
NPC is a bell shaped curve.

All the three central

tendencies:mean,median and mode coincide
in it and are equal.

NPC is asymptotic.It approaches but

never touches the base line.

The NPC is bilateral symmetrical.It

implies size,shape and slope of the
curve on one side are identical to that
of the other side.
The curve has its maximum height or
ordinate at
the starting point.ie.the mean of the
distributiom.
The first and the third quartile(Q1&Q3)
are at equal distance from Q2 or median.

The point of inflection(where the curvature

changes its direction) is at point +- 1 σ,up and
below the mean.
To find the deviations from the point of
departure(mean),standard deviation of the distribution(σ)
is used as a unit of measurement.

The total area under the curve is taken arbitarily to

be 10,000,for a greater ease in the computation.

The curve extends on both sides,ie. -3σ distance on the

left to
+3σ on the right.
We may find that 3,413 cases out of 10,000 or
34.13% of the entire area of the curve lies between
the mean and +1σ on the base line of the normal
curve.
Similarly another 34.13% of the cases lie between
the mean and -1σ on the base line. Rest of the
percentage
divisions are shown in the diagram ahead:
NPC in terms of
skewness
Skewness refers to lack of symmetry.A normal
curve is a perfect symmetrical curve.In many
distributions which deviate from the
normal,the value of mean,median and mode
are different and there is no symmetry
between the two halves of the curve.Such
distributions are said to be skewed.
 Negative
skewness
In case of negative skewness,the curve is
more inclined towards the left.
 Positive
skewness
In case of positive skewness,the curve is
more inclined towards the right.
 Formula for
skewness
⚫Sk= 3(M-md)/σ
⚫(In terms of frequency
distribution)

⚫Sk= [P90+P10/2]-P50
⚫(In terms of percentile)
NPC in terms of
kurtosis
When there are very few individuals whose
scores are near to the average score for their
group,the curve representing such a
distribution becomes ‘flattened’ in the
middle.On the other hand,when there are too
many cases in the central area,the
distribution curve becomes too ‘peaked’ in
comparison with the normal curve.Both
these characteristics of being flat or peaked
,are used to describe the term kurtosis.
 Platykurtic
A freuency distribution is said to be
platykurtic when the curve is flatter than the
normal curve.
 Leptokurtic
A frequency distribution is said to be
leptokurtic when it is more peaked than the
normal.
 Mesokurti
A c
frequency distribution is said to be
mesokurtic when it almost resembles the
normal(neither too flat nor too peaked).

mesokurti
c
 Formula for
kurtosis
Ku= Q/P90-P10

Or;

Ku= [Q75-Q25/2]/P90-
P10
 Applications of the normal
curve
Use as a model -> Normal curve represents a
model distribution.It can be used as a model
to:
1)Compare various distributions with it,ie. To
say,whether the distribution is normal or
not and,if not,in what way it diverges
from the normal.
2)Compare two or more distributions in
terms of overlapping;and
3)Evaluate student’s performance from their
Computing percentiles and percentile
ranks
Normal probability curve
may be conveniently used for
computing percentiles and
percentile ranks in a given
normal distribution.
 Ability
grouping
A group of individuals may be conveniently
grouped into certain categories as
A,B,C,D,E(very good,good,average,poor,very
poor) in terms of some trait(assumed to be
normally distributed),with the help of a
normal curve.
Converting raw score into
comparable standard
With the help ofscores
normalized a normal curve,we can convert the raw
scores belonging to different tests into a standard
normalized scores like sigma scores.For converting a
given raw score into a z score,we subtract the mean of
the scores of distribution from the respective raw scores
and divide it by the standard deviation of the
distribution.ie.
z=X-M/ σ.
In this way a standard z score clearly indicates
how many standard deviation units a raw score
is above or below the mean and thus provides a
standard scale for the purpose of valuable
comparison.
Determining the relative difficulty of test
items

Normal curve provides the simplest

rational method of scaling test items for
difficulty and therefore,may be conveniently
employed for determining the relative
difficulty of test questions,problems and
other test items.
Making use of the table of normal
curve
Table A of the normal curve provides the
fractional parts of the total area (taken as
10,000) under the curve in relation to the
respective sigma distances from the mean.This
table may therefore be used to find the
fractional part of the total area when z scores
or sigma scores are given and also to find the
sigma or z scores,when the fractional parts of
the total area are given.
Statistical table-Table
A
We study some of the applications of the
normal curve:
Application 1:
To determine the percentage of cases in a
normal distribution within given limits.There
can be three cases under this:
a)To find the percentage of cases below a
given score point.
b)To find the percentage of cases above a
given score point.
c)To find the percentage of cases lying
between two given score points.
Illustration based on
case
⚫ Given (a)
a normal distribution,N=1,000;Mean=80 and
SD=16.To find the percentage of individuals whose
scores lie below the score point 40:
⚫ The raw scores will be converted into z scores by using
the formula-
Z=X-M/σ ; z=40-80/16=> -2.5σ
Referring to table A,the σ score -2.5 gives the value
4938.This value is further converted into percentage by
dividing it with 10,000 and multiplying the same with
100.
The value comes out to be 49.38%,which means 49.38%
cases lie between mean and -2.5σ.
In all,50-49.38=0.62% cases lie below the score point
40 and out of 1000,6 individuals achieve below the
score point 40 which is also the percentile rank.
0.62
%

SIGMA SCORES
Application
2:
To determine the limits of the scores between which a certain
percentage
of cases lie.
Illustration:If a distribution is normal with M=100,SD=20,find out
the tow points between which the middle 60% of cases lie.
Solution:The middle 60% implies that 30% of the cases fall to the
left and the rest 30% (3000 out of 10,000) to right of the mean.
Referring to table A,corresponding sigma distance for 3,000 fractional
parts of total area would be calculated which comes out to be
0.84σ and -0.84σ for the cases falling to the left of mean.
The standard z scores would be converted to raw scores with help of
same
formula as discussed earlier[ X-M/σ ]
Value of raw score comes out to be 117 and 83(after rounding the figures)
that include the middle 60% of cases.
 60%

30% 30%

Sigma
scores
Application
3⚫To determine the relative difficulty value of
the test items.
Illustration:Four problems A,B,C and D have
been solved by 50%,60%,70%,80%
respectively of a large group.Compare the
difficulty between A and B,with the
difficulty between C and D.
Solution:The percentage of students who are
able to solve the problem are counted from
the extreme right.
 50%

60%

70%

80%

D C B A/M
 ⚫ Problem A was solved by 50% of the group,also,it implies
50% of the group has not been able to solve it,means it
was an average problem having 0 difficulty level.
⚫ Problem B was solved by 60% of the group,also,it
implies,in comparison to A,10% more individuals were
able to solve it.
⚫ Similarly,Problem C was passed by 70% of the
group,also,it implies,20% more individuals were able to
solve it than the average.
⚫ Problem D was passed by 80% of the group,also,it
implies,30% more individuals were able to solve it than
the average. SOLVED
PROBLEM DIFFICULTY RELATIVE
BY(%) VALUE DIFFICULTY
A 50 -0
B 60 -0.253σ -0.253σ
C 70 -0.252σ
D 80 -0.840σ -0.315σ

Problem B is simpler than problem A by having 0.253 sigma less difficulty value and
problem D is simpler than problem C by having 0.315 sigma less difficulty value.
Application
4⚫ To divide a given group into categories according
to an ability or trait assumed to be distributed
normally.
⚫ Illustration:There is a group of 200 students that
has to be classified into 5 categories:A B C D
and E according to ability,the range of ability
being equal in each category.If trait under ability
is normally distributed,tell how many students
should be placed in each category?
⚫ Solution:Base line of curve extend from -3 sigma
to
+3 sigma,ie,over a range of 6 sigma,may be
divided into 5 equal parts.It gives 1.2 sigma to
be alloted to each category.
 c

D B
E A

-3 - -. M +. +1.8 +3
1.8 6 6
SIGMA
SC ORE
⚫ Now we need to calculate the percentage of cases lying
within each of these areas.
⚫ Area under A extends from 1.8 sigma to 3 sigma ,
therefore,group A may said to be comprise 3.5% of the
whole group.
⚫ B will cover the cases lying between 0.6 sigma and 1.8
sigma,therefore group B may be said to comprise 23.84%
of the entire group.
⚫ Group C may be said to comprise 45.14% of the entire
group.
⚫ Similarly group D and E said to comprise 23.8 % and
3.5% respectively of the whole group.

A B C D E
Percentage
of whole 3.5 23.8 45.0 23.8 3.5
group in
each
category
No.
students
of
in 7.0 47.6 90.0 47.6 7.0
each category
out of 200
No. of students
7 48 90 48 7
in whole no .
THANKYOU.
.