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    Normal Distribution and Z-Score

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    Jafar Nory
    This document provides an overview of the normal distribution and z-scores. It defines the normal distribution, its key properties like symmetry and the empirical rule that 68% of values fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean. It then explains how to calculate a z-score to indicate how many standard deviations a value is from the mean. Several examples are given to demonstrate calculating percentages of values above or below thresholds and interpreting z-scores in clinical contexts like osteoporosis and pediatric growth measurements.

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    Normal Distribution and Z-Score

    Uploaded by

    Jafar Nory
    15 views22 pages
    This document provides an overview of the normal distribution and z-scores. It defines the normal distribution, its key properties like symmetry and the empirical rule that 68% of values fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean. It then explains how to calculate a z-score to indicate how many standard deviations a value is from the mean. Several examples are given to demonstrate calculating percentages of values above or below thresholds and interpreting z-scores in clinical contexts like osteoporosis and pediatric growth measurements.

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    Normal Distribution and Z-score

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    This document provides an overview of the normal distribution and z-scores. It defines the normal distribution, its key properties like symmetry and the empirical rule that 68% of values fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean. It then explains how to calculate a z-score to indicate how many standard deviations a value is from the mean. Several examples are given to demonstrate calculating percentages of values above or below thresholds and interpreting z-scores in clinical contexts like osteoporosis and pediatric growth measurements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    15 views22 pages

    Normal Distribution and Z-Score

    Uploaded by

    Jafar Nory
    This document provides an overview of the normal distribution and z-scores. It defines the normal distribution, its key properties like symmetry and the empirical rule that 68% of values fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean. It then explains how to calculate a z-score to indicate how many standard deviations a value is from the mean. Several examples are given to demonstrate calculating percentages of values above or below thresholds and interpreting z-scores in clinical contexts like osteoporosis and pediatric growth measurements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 22

    AFAMS Research Methodology

    Course

    Normal Distribution & Z-Score

    Octobler-2013
    Dr Homayoun Saidi,MD
    Cardiologist
    Study objectives

    • At the end of this session the participants will


    understand

    – What is normal distribution ?


    – Properties of normal distribution
    – Z- Score and its use
    What is a Normal Distribution?
    • The normal distribution is perhaps the most
    important of statistical distribution
    • It is Frequency Distribution for Quantitative
    Data
    • The Measure of Central Location is Mean , and
    Spread is Standard Deviation(SD)
    • It was first discovered by the French
    mathematician Abraham Demoivre in 1733
    Cont.
    • The reason why the normal distribution plays
    such a key role in statistics is that countless
    phenomena follow (or closely approximate)
    the normal distribution
    – Examples are height, serum cholesterol, life span
    of light bulbs, body temperature of healthy
    persons, size of oranges.
    • It is unimodal and symmetrical. The mode,
    median and mean are all just in the middle.
    Properties
    – First, the appearance of the relative frequency
    histogram of the underlying variable is symmetrical
    and bell-shaped. This histogram is called the normal
    curve or the normal distribution.
    – Second the total area under the distribution curve is
    equal to 1.0( 100%).
    – Third, the normal distribution is a theoretical
    distribution defined by two parameters the mean and
    standard deviation.
    Normal distribution curve
    The Mean and Standard Deviation of the
    Normal Distribution Determine

    • What proportion of individuals fall into any


    range of values?
    • What is the normal range for some Lab
    Tests?
    Cont…
    • 68% of the observations fall within one
    standard deviation around the mean.
    • 95% of the observations fall within two
    standard deviations around the mean.
    • 99.7% of the observations fall within three
    standard deviations around the mean.
    Empirical Rule for
    Any Normal Curve

    68% 95%

    -1 +1 -2 +2

    99.7%

    -3 +3
    Distribution of the values
    according to the standard
    deviation
    Health and Nutrition Examination Study of 1976-1980 (HANES)

    • Heights of men, aged 18-24


    • mean: 70.0 inches
    • standard deviation: 2.8 inches
    – men
    • 68% are between 67.2 and 72.8 inches
    [mean  1 std dev = 70.0  2.8]
    • 95% are between 64.4 and 75.6 inches
    • 99.7% are between 61.6 and 78.4 inches
    95%
    99.7%
    68% 64.4 75.6
    -61.6 78.4
    67.2 72.8
    Z score
    • A z score indicates distance from the mean in
    standard deviation units. Formula:

    X  X X
    z z
     S
    • X =observed value
    • X bar= mean
    • S= standard deviation
    Z-score , cont…
    • Z-score of a measurement X indicates how
    many standard deviations is the measurement
    away from mean? A positive Z-Score indicates
    that the measurement is above the mean and
    a negative Z-Score indicates that the
    measurement is below the mean.
    Example:
    • Suppose the scores in a test have a normal
    distribution with mean 70 and standard
    deviation equal to 5:
    • Find the Z-score for a score of 62

    • Find Z-score for a score of 79


    Exercises
    • Find the areas under the normal curve falling
    the right of Z
    • Z=0
    • Z=1
    • Z=-1
    • Z=2.55
    Cont…
    • Find areas under the normal curve that lie
    between the given values of Z?
    • Z=0 and Z=2.37
    • Z=0 and Z=1.94
    • Z=-1.85 and Z=1.85
    Example
    • Suppose the scores in a test have a normal
    distribution with mean 70 and standard deviation
    equal to 5. Assume score of 68 or higher is
    needed to pass the course.
    • A) what percent of the students who take this
    test are able to pass the course.
    • Z=(68-70)/5=-0.4
    – (0.1554+0.5=0.6554)
    – 65.5% of the students who take this test are able to
    pass the course.
    Example
    • What percent of the students who take this
    test are not able to pass the course?
    • 1-0.6554=0.3446
    • 34.4% of the students who take this test are
    not able to pass the course.
    Example continue…
    • What % of the students who take this test are
    able to pass the course with a score of at least
    80?
    • Z= (80-70)/5=2
    • 0.5-0.4772=0.0228
    • 2.28% of the students who take this test are
    able to pass the course with a score of at least
    80
    Outlier
    • In a normal distribution any measurement
    with a Z-score of greater than 3 or less than -3
    is called an outlier.
    • An outlier is an extreme or an unusual
    measurement. Recall that the Empirical Rule
    states that for a normal distribution 99.7% of
    the measurements fall within three standard
    deviations around the mean.
    Some Clinical Examples
    • In Osteoporosis : BMD in g/cm2
    - Z-score for patient`s age, gender, ethnicity
    - Z-score < -1.5 : risk for osteoporosis
    • In Pediatrics :
    Z-score : Height for age of child ,an index for
    child growth
    References
    • Basic Statistics for the Heatlh Sciences, fourth
    Edition. Jan W. Kuzma, Stepehn E.
    Bohnenblust
    • Antony Stewart : Basic Statistics and
    Epidemiology , A practical guide: Radcliffe
    Medical Press Ltd, UK , 2002

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