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Normal Probability Curve Overview

The Normal Probability Curve (NPC), also known as the Gaussian distribution, is a bell-shaped, symmetrical curve where the mean, median, and mode are equal and located at the center. It has a total area of one and is used in various applications such as normalizing frequency distributions, testing significance in experiments, and classifying groups. The curve is characterized by its properties, including being unimodal and asymptotic, extending from negative to positive infinity.

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89 views9 pages

Normal Probability Curve Overview

The Normal Probability Curve (NPC), also known as the Gaussian distribution, is a bell-shaped, symmetrical curve where the mean, median, and mode are equal and located at the center. It has a total area of one and is used in various applications such as normalizing frequency distributions, testing significance in experiments, and classifying groups. The curve is characterized by its properties, including being unimodal and asymptotic, extending from negative to positive infinity.

Uploaded by

Aju Kisan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Normal Probability Curve

(NPC)

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Pandagale


Associate Professor in Education
Regional Institute of Education, NCERT, Bhopal
Normal Probability Curve
Concept
o The normal distribution was first discovered by Demoivre in 1733.
o But the credit comes to Karl Gauss who first made the reference in
1809.
o Therefore the normal probability distribution or the “normal curve” is
often called the Gaussian distribution.
o The literal meaning of the term normal is average.

“Normal probability curve is well defined, well structure,


mathematical curve, having a distribution of the scores with
mean, median and modes are equal.
… J. P. Guilford
Properties

o The shape of the curve is like a bell and hence bell shaped.
o It is Perfectly Symmetrical. It means the curve inclines towards both sides
equally from the center of the curve. Thus we get equal halves on both sides
from the central point.
o It has single peak and the mean, median and mode lye at one point of the
curve hence unimodal.
o Mean, median and mode carry the equal value. Therefore, they fall at the
same point on the curve i.e., at center.
o The total area under the curve is one.
o The curve is asymptotic as it does not touch the base or X axis on both sides.
Thus, it extends from negative infinity to positive infinity.
It has mean = 0 and standard
deviation = 1

General relationships:
±1 s = about 68.26%
±2 s = about 95.44%
±3 s = about 99.72%
Variations in NPC

The curve is not skewed. Therefore the


values of the measure of skewness is
zero.
Applications
o To normalize a frequency distribution. It is an important step in standardizing a
psychological test or inventory.
o To test the significance of observations in experiments, findings their relationships
with the chance fluctuations or errors that are result of sampling procedures.
o To generalize about population from which the samples are drawn by calculating the
standard error of mean and other statistics.
o To compare two distributions.
o To determine the difficulty values. The Z scores are used to determine the difficulty
values of test items.
o To classify the groups. The Normal Probability Curve (NPC) is used for classifying
the groups and assigning grades to individuals.
o To determine the level of significance. The levels of significance of statistics results
are determined in terms of NPC limits.
o To scale responses to opinionnaires, judgement, ratings or rankings by transforming
them numerical values.
Thank you!

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