Homework: Normal Distribution

1. Some smaller colleges and liberal arts schools make students take a comprehensive
graduation exam in their major before they can graduate and receive their degree. Lets say
that the entire population of students taking the exam in health sciences is 7,000. The scores
on this exam are normally distributed, the mean is 75, and the standard deviation is 12.
a. *Below is a blank normal distribution curve. Label the x-axis with the appropriate
values for a standard normal curve. Beneath those labels, write their raw score
equivalents for this data set. (2 points)

b.
c.
d.

e.
f.
g.
h.

Please make sure to show your work and any formulas for the following:
What percentage of those tested received a score lower than 63? (2 points)
14%+2%=16% or (63-75= -12/12= -1 standard deviation). Using the table, the z score
gives us a value of 15.87%.
How many of those 7,000 students received a score lower than 63? (1 point)
7000 x 0.16= 1120 students
What percentage of those tested received a score between a 57 and a 93? (3 points)
The z score for 57 is (57-75=-18/12 = -1.5) and 93 (93-75=18/12=1.5). Using the
table, the percentage of people from the mean to 1 z score of 1.5 is 43.32. Since the
normal distribution is a mirror image, we add 43.32+43.32 to get the distance from
the mean to both z scores to receive an answer of 86.64%.
How many of those 7,000 students scored between a 57 and a 93? (1 point)
To get the number of students, we can multiply 7,000 x .8664 = 6064.8 students are
around 6065 students received scores between 57 and 93.
A persons z-score for the exam is 1.28. What is that persons raw score (x)?
(1.28)(12)+75 = 90.36%
A persons z-score for the exam is -.84. What is that persons raw score (x)?
(-.84)(12) + 75= (-10.08)+75 = 64.92%
What is the probability of a randomly chosen student having a score that was more
than 2.5 standard deviation units in either direction from the mean? (2 points)
50%-49.38%=0.62%
.62+.62= 1.24% chance of more than 2.5 standard deviations

2. Jack and Jill are twins. Jack goes to Boston University, and Jill goes to Northeastern
University. Both Jack and Jill are enrolled in a statistics course at their respective
universities. Jack gets a 53 on his exam (scores normally distributed, = 58, = 10). Jill
also gets a 53 on her exam (scores normally distributed, = 50, = 7).

a. Without actually calculating the answer, who can brag to the parents about being
smarter? How do you know? (2 points)
Jill is smarter because she got higher than the class average, while Jack got lower than
the class average. Theyre both less than a standard deviation away from the mean.
b. Below is a blank normal distribution curve. Label the x-axis with the appropriate
values for a standard normal curve. Beneath those labels, write the raw score
equivalents for Jacks class and the raw score equivalents for Jills class. (3 points)

c. Now formally calculate the answer to a) to verify that you are correct in your
conclusions. Make sure to show your work. (3 points)
53-50/7 = 3/7 =0.43; Jills score was 0.43 standard deviations away from the class
mean, but in a positive direction (to the right of the mean)
53-58/10= -5/10= -.5; Jacks score is .5 standard deviations away from the class
mean, but in a negative direction
d. Whose class is more variable, Jacks or Jills? How do you know? (2 points)
Jacks class was more variable, because it has a higher standard deviation which
indicates a higher amount of variability from the mean.
3. A score that is 12 points above the mean corresponds to a z-score of 2. What is the standard
deviation for this population? (2 points)
Since the z score is equal to the amount of standard deviations away from the mean, a z score
of 2 would indicate that one standard deviation is (12/2)= 6.
4. The birth weight of healthy, full-term infants born in the U.S. is approximately normally
distributed with a mean of 3,500 grams and a standard deviation of 500 grams. You friend
from high school just had a baby and claims that he weighed 4,750 grams. Do you believe
your friend? Explain your reasoning. (3 points)
I would be skeptical since the standard deviation is 500 grams, a value more than 2 standard
deviations away would put the baby at 4500 grams (with only a 2% chance of it being that).
However at 4750 grams, the baby is 2.5 standard deviations away with only a 0.62% chance
of weighing that amount.
5. Most states now require primary and secondary school students to take some form of
standardized testing. Some schools even require this yearly. Lets say that Massachusetts

really cares about math scores. The people who work in the education department want to
compare reading scores for those in the fourth grade ( = 25, = 5) to those in the ninth
grade ( = 30, = 10). Lets assume that the scores are normally distributed.
a. What is the modal reading test score for fourth graders? (1 point)
The modal reading test score in a normal distribution would be 25.
b. What is the median reading test score for ninth graders? (1 point)
The median reading test score for ninth graders is 30.
c. What percentage of fourth graders score better than the average ninth grader? (Hint:
drawing pictures like those used in previous problems might be useful.) Make sure to
show your work. (3 points)
The average ninth grader had a score of 30, which is one standard deviation higher
than the fourth graders mean score. This means that everything higher than one
standard deviation is the percentage of fourth graders with higher scores.
14%+2%= 16%

d. What percentage of ninth graders score worse than the average fourth grader? (Hint:
drawing pictures like those used in previous problems might be useful.) Make sure to
show your work. (3 points)
The average fourth grader had a score of 25, which is -0.5 standard deviations away
from the mean of the ninth grade scores (25-30)/10= -0.5. This means that everything
under 0.5 standard deviations from the mean is the percentage of ninth graders who
scored worse. Using the table, 19.15% of results are between the mean and z score of
-0.5, so if we subtract19.15 from 50%, we get 30.85%.