SOCSCI 2J03 Lecture 6: Chapter 6 - Continuous Random Variables and the Normal Distribution

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Sciences
• Course: SOCSCI 2J03
• Professor: Rizwan Tahir

Document Summary

Learning objectives: understand the normal probability distribution, understand the normal distribution as an approximation to the binomial distribution. Histogram and polygon: the probability distribution curve of a continuous random variable is also called its probability density. The probability of a single value of x is zero: for a continuous probability distribution, the probability is always calculated for an interval, the probability that a continuous random variable x assumes a single value is always zero. Normal probability distribution: a normal probability distribution or a normal curve is a bell-shaped (symmetric) curve, a continuous random variable x that has a normal distribution is called a normal random. The total area under the curve is 1. 0: 2. The curve is symmetric about the mean: 3. The two tails of the curve extend indefinitely. Areas of the normal curve beyond 3 sd: the actual area in each tail of the standard normal distribution curve beyond three standard deviations of the mean is . 0013.