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Study Guide - The Normal Distribution

A)
B)
C)
D)

1.Give the type of distribution pattern that occurs when the majority of the data values fall to the left of the
mean?
symmetrical
positively skewed
negatively skewed
left skewed

A)
B)

2.When the majority of the data values fall to the right of the mean, the distribution is said to be left
skewed.
True
False
3.The figure below is an example of a negatively skewed distribution.

A)
B)

True
False

4.When the data values are evenly distributed about the mean, the distribution is said to be __________.
5.A(n) __________ is another term which can be used to describe an approximately bell shaped curve.

A)
B)
C)
D)

6.Which of the following properties does not apply to a theoretical normal distribution?
The normal distribution is bell-shaped.
The mean, median, and mode are equal.
The normal distribution is bimodal.
The curve never touches the x-axis.

A)
B)

7.In applied statistics, the area under the normal distribution curve is more important than the frequencies.
True
False
8.The normal distribution curve can be used as a probability distribution curve for normally distributed
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A)
B)

A)
B)

variables.
True
False
9.The total area under the normal distribution curve is approximately 0.99 but can never be equal to 1.0.
True
False

A)
B)
C)
D)

10.What is the special property of the standard normal distribution?


The mean is 0 and the standard deviation is 1.
The total area under the normal distribution curve is equal to 1.00.
The curve is continuous.
The mean is located at the center of the distribution.

A)
B)
C)
D)

11.Give the term for the number of standard deviations that a particular X value is away from the mean.
z value
discrete value
continuous value
y value
12.Given the normal distribution curve shown in the figure below, find the area under the curve between
z 0 and z 2.16 . Use the data found in Table E of Appendix C.

A)
B)
C)
D)

0.4788
0.4821
.4955
0.4846
13.Using the normal distribution curve shown in the figure below, find the area under the curve between
z 0 and z 2.16 ?
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A)
B)
C)
D)

0.4821
0.4821
0.4846
0.4846

14. When finding the area under the curve between two z values, the procedure is to subtract the two z
values and look up the corresponding area in Table E of Appendix C.
A)
True
B)
False
15.The z value corresponding to 48.81% of the data is 2.20 in Table E of Appendix C.
A)
True
B)
False

16.The P 0 z 2.25 is 0.4878.


A)
True
B)
False
.
17.In the figure below, what is the area under the curve between z 150
and z 2.50 ?

A)
B)
C)
D)

0.0802
0.0606
0.0764
1.00
18.Find the area under the curve between z 2.05 and z 2.05 .
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A)
B)
C)
D)

0.4938
0.4798
0.9596
0.9876
. .
19.Find the area under the curve to the left of z 169

A)
B)
C)
D)

A)
B)
C)
D)

0.4545
0.4452
0.9545
0.9452
. ) .
20.Find the probability for P(0 z 167
0.4525 or 45.25%
0.4554 or 45.54%
0.4207 or 42.07%
0.3554 or 35.54%

21.The area under the curve is always positive even if the z value is negative.
A)
True
B)
False
22.The area under the normal distribution curve that lies within three standard deviations of the mean is
approximately 95%.
A)
True
B)
False
.
23.The area to the right of z 183
is 0.4256.
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A)
B)

True
False

.
24.Stating that the area under the curve between z 0 and z 100
is 0.3413 is the same as stating that the
__________ of selecting any z value between 0 and 1.00 is 0.3413.

25.The following formula can be used to find a specific value from a data set:
X z

A)
B)

True
False

26.What is the z value such that 50% of the total area lies to the right of the curve in a normal distribution?

A)
B)
C)
D)

27.If the scores for a test have a mean of 70 and a standard deviation of 12, find the percentage of scores
that will fall below 50.
4.75%
45.54%
42.07%
35.54%

A)
B)
C)
D)

28.What z value corresponds to 17% of the data between the mean and the z value?
1.25
0.44
0.52
2.10

A)
B)
C)
D)

29.The average hourly wage of workers at a fast food restaurant is $6.50/hr with a standard deviation of
$0.45. Assume that the distribution is normally distributed. If a worker at this fast food restaurant is
selected at random, what is the probability that the worker earns more than $6.75?
28.77%
27.64%
42.07%
5.17%

30.The z value that corresponds to the 40th percentile is z 1.72 .


A)
True
B)
False
31.What is the z value to the right of the mean such that 85% of the total area lies to the left of it as shown
in the figure below?

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A)
B)
C)
D)

32.In order to be accepted into a top university, applicants must score within the top 5% on the SAT exam.
Given that the test has a mean of 1000 and a standard deviation of 200, what is the lowest possible score
a student needs to qualify for acceptance into the university?
1330
1400
1250
1100

A)
B)
C)
D)

33.A recent study found that the average life expectancy of a person living in Africa is 53 years with a
standard deviation of 7.5 years. If a person in Africa is selected at random, what is the probability that
the person will die before the age of 65?
94.52%
82.89%
94.95%
88.49%

A)
B)
C)
D)

34.At a large department store, the average number of years of employment for a cashier is 5.7 with a
standard deviation of 1.8 years. If an employee is picked at random, what is the probability that the
employee has worked at the store for over 10 years?
49.16%
99.16%
0.84%
0.54%

35.Mrs. Smith's reading class can read a mean of 175 words per minute with a standard deviation of 20
words per minute. The top 3% of the class is to receive a special award. What is the minimum number
of words per minute a student would have to read in order to get the award?
36.A(n) __________ is a distribution obtained by using the means computed from random samples of a
specific size taken from a population.
37.The __________ is the difference between the sample measure and the corresponding population
measure due to the fact that the sample is not a perfect representation of the population.
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A)
B)
C)
D)

38.The average age of a vehicle registered in the United States is 8 years, or 96 months. If a random sample
of 36 vehicles is selected, find the probability that the mean of their age is between 98 and 100 months?
Assume the standard deviation for the population is 15.
66.67%
15.71%
63.47%
75.82%

39.The standard deviation of sample means will be larger than the standard deviation of the population, and
it will be equal to the population standard deviation multiplied by the square root of the sample size.
A)
True
B)
False
40.The following formula is used to find the z value for the central limit theorem.
z

A)
B)

True
False

41.The __________ correction factor is necessary if relatively large samples are taken from a small
population, because the sample mean will then more accurately estimate the population mean and there
will be less error in the estimation.
42.As the sample size n increases, the shape of the distribution of the sample means taken with replacement
from a population with mean and standard deviation of will approach a normal distribution. This
distribution will have a mean of and a standard deviation of
__________.

. This statement summarizes the

43.The standard deviation of a distribution is 20. If a sample of 225 is selected, what is the standard error of
the mean?
44.A survey of 250 lobster fishermen found that they catch an average of 32 pounds of lobster per day with
a standard deviation of four pounds. If a random sample of 30 lobster fishermen is selected, what is the
probability that their average catch is less than 31.5 pounds?
45.A(n) __________ is employed when a continuous distribution is used to approximate a discrete
distribution.
46.A magazine reported that 6% of American drivers read the newspaper while driving. If 500 drivers are
selected at random, find the probability that exactly 40 will admit to reading the newspaper while
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A)
B)
C)
D)

driving.
1.96%
2.04%
1.28%
0.56%

A)
B)
C)
D)

47.Of the members of a Boy Scout troop, 15% have received their first aid badge. If 40 boy scouts are
selected at random, find the probability that four or more will have the first aid badge?
86.65%
85.35%
36.65%
35.35%

A)
B)
C)
D)

48.If a baseball player's batting average is 0.340 or 34%, find the probability that the player will have a bad
season and only score at most 60 hits in 200 times at bat?
12.64%
11.72%
50.34%
13.14%

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Answer Key
1.B
2.A
3.B
4.symmetrical
5.approximately normally distributed
6.C
7.A
8.A
9.B
10.A
11.A
12.D
13.D
14.B
15.B
16.A
17.B
18.C
19.C
20.A
21.A
22.B
23.B
24.probability
25.A
26.zero
27.A
28.B
29.A
30.B
31.1.04
32.A
33.A
34.C
35.213
36.sampling distribution of sample means
37.sampling error
38.B
39.B
40.B
41.finite population
42.central limit theorem
43.1.33
44.24.83%
45.correction for continuity
46.C
47.A
48.D
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