Chapter 5

The Normal distribution and ideas of

sampling
5.1

Learning activity A5.1

Question:
Check the following using your Normal table.
If Z N (0, 1), then:
P(Z 1) = 1 (1) = 0.1587,
P(Z 1) = (1) = 1 0.1587 = 0.8413.

Solution:
Z N (0, 1), i.e. = 0, 2 = 1. Looking at the table, we see the area
under the curve for which x < 1 is 0.8413. So the area for which it
is greater is 1 0.8413 = 0.1587.

5.2

Learning activity A5.2

Question:
Check that (approximately):
a) 68% of Normal random variables fall within 1 standard deviation
of the mean.
b) 95% of Normal random variables fall within 2 standard
deviations of the mean.
c) 99% of Normal random variables fall within 3 standard
deviations of the mean.

Statistics 1 Solutions to learning activities

Draw the areas concerned on a Normal distribution.

Solution:
Looking at a) first:
If we are looking for 0.6800 as the area under the curve between
two standard deviations, we need A to be 0.3400 and hence the
whole area to the left of x to be 0.8400.
Looking at (x) = 0.8400, we see that x is between 0.99 (where x is
0.8389) and 1 ((x) = 0.8413), i.e. approximately correct.

You do b) the same way.

Look up (x) of 12 0.9500 + 0.5000 = 0.4750 + 0.5000 = 0.9750,
which gives us an x of exactly 1.96.
c) means you look up (x) of
1
2 0.9900 + 0.5000 = 0.4950 + 0.5000 = 0.9950, which gives x
between 2.57 and 2.58. Thus the third example is more
approximate!!


5.3

Learning activity A5.3

Question:
The following six observations give the time taken to complete a
100 metre sprint by six individuals:

Individual
A
B
C
D
E
F

Time
15
14
10
12
20
15

a) Find the population mean, , for the population and the

population standard deviation, , of the xi .

CHAPTER 5. THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION AND IDEAS OF SAMPLING

b) Find the X for each possible sample:

of two individuals
of three individuals, and
four individuals.
Work out the mean for each set of samples (it must come to !!) and
compare the standard deviation of the means of the X about .
This may take some time, but, after you have done it, you should
have a clearer idea about sampling distributions!

Solution:
a) Population mean:
15 + 14 + 10 + 12 + 20 + 15
6
86
=
6
= 14.33.

Population standard deviation:

=
=
=
=

v
u 6
u1 X
t
(xi x)
2
6
i=1
r
1
1
57
6
3

9.56
3.09.

b) Two individuals:
there are 15 samples.
Taking samples of two elements with Xs,
They are:

Number, i
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Individuals
A, B
A, C
A, D
A, E
A, F
B, C
B, D
B, E
B, F
C, D
C, E
C, F
D, E
D, F
E, F

Times
15, 14
15, 10
15, 12
15, 20
15, 15
14, 10
14, 12
14, 20
14, 15
10, 12
10, 20
10, 15
12, 20
12, 15
20, 15

X i
14.5
12.5
13.5
17.5
15.0
12.0
13.0
17.0
14.5
11.0
15.0
12.5
16.0
13.5
17.5

Statistics 1 Solutions to learning activities

The mean of all the samples is:

=

P15

i=1

X i

15
215
=
15
= 14.33.

there
Three individuals: Taking samples of three elements with Xs,
are 20 samples. They are:

Number, i
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Individuals
A, B, C
A, B, D
A, B, E
A, B, F
A, C, D
A, C, E
A, C, F
A, D, E
A, D, F
A, E, F
B, C, D
B, C, E
B, C, F
B, D, E
B, D, F
B, E, F
C, D, E
C, D, F
C, E, F
D, E, F

Times
15, 14, 10
15, 14, 12
15, 14, 20
15, 14, 15
15, 10, 12
15, 10, 20
15, 10, 15
15, 12, 20
15, 12, 15
15, 20, 15
14, 10, 12
14, 10, 20
14, 10, 15
14, 12, 20
14, 12, 15
14, 20, 15
10, 12, 20
10, 12, 15
10, 20, 15
12, 20, 15

X i
13.00
13.67
16.33
14.67
12.33
15.00
13.33
15.67
14.00
16.67
12.00
14.67
13.00
15.33
13.67
16.33
14.00
12.33
15.00
15.67

The mean of all the samples is:

=

P20

i=1

X i

20
286.67
=
20
= 14.33.

Four individuals: Taking samples of four elements, we have 15

elements again. Tip take the samples left over with the twos!
The mean of all the samples is:
=

P15

i=1

X i

15
215
=
15
= 14.33.

The standard deviations of X are 1.9551, 1.3824 and 0.9776 for

samples of size 2, 3 and 4 respectively. This confirms that the
accuracy of our population mean estimator improves as we increase

CHAPTER 5. THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION AND IDEAS OF SAMPLING

Number, i
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Individuals
C, D, E, F
B, D, E, F
B, C, E, F
B, C, D, F
B, C, D, E
A, D, E, F
A, C, E, F
A, C, D, F
A, C, D, E
A, B, E, F
A, B, D, F
A, B, D, E
A, B, C, F
A, B, C, E
A, B, C, D

Times
10, 12, 20, 15
14, 12, 20, 15
14, 10, 20, 15
14, 10, 12, 15
14, 10, 12, 20
15, 12, 20, 15
15, 10, 20, 15
15, 10, 12, 15
15, 10, 12, 20
15, 14, 20, 15
15, 14, 12, 15
15, 14, 12, 20
15, 14, 10, 15
15, 14, 10, 20
15, 14, 10, 12

X i
14.25
15.25
14.75
12.75
14.00
15.50
15.00
13.00
14.25
16.00
14.00
15.25
13.50
14.75
12.75

our sample size because we increase the amount of information

about the population in the sample.

Solutions prepared by Dr James Abdey.