POLSCI 3N06 Lecture Notes - Statistical Inference, Standard Score, Normal Distribution
5 Apr 2014
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Political science 3n06 semester ii 2014 lecture 4a: probability and the. The normal curve is a theoretical distribution that happens to closely match many (although not all) real distributions: (both physical and social variables) Because of this, we can use the properties of the theoretical normal curve to help describe real data. In a normal curve, the mode, mean, and median are all located in the centre of the distribution. The curve is symmetrical around the centre, with 50% of the area under the curve falling on either side. A known proportion of the distribution falls between the mean and a given number of standard deviations away from the mean: e. g. 68. 26% of the area under the curve falls between +- 1 standard deviation of the mean. I. e. in a normally distributed variable, 68. 26% of the cases will have a score within +- 1 standard deviation of the mean.
