Normal distribution curve

Figure 8.4 Normal (Gaussian) distribution curves, normalized so that total area under each curve is unity, (a) Three normalized curves for (x) vs x (Equation [8.3]), with lo, = 0 and =

Table 2.26a Ordinates (V) of the Normal Distribution Curve at Values of z 2.121...

Table 2.26b Areas Under the Normal Distribution Curve from 0 to z 2.122...

The normal distribution of measurements (or the normal law of error) is the fundamental starting point for analysis of data. When a large number of measurements are made, the individual measurements are not all identical and equal to the accepted value /x, which is the mean of an infinite population or universe of data, but are scattered about /x, owing to random error. If the magnitude of any single measurement is the abscissa and the relative frequencies (i.e., the probability) of occurrence of different-sized measurements are the ordinate, the smooth curve drawn through the points (Fig. 2.10) is the normal or Gaussian distribution curve (also the error curve or probability curve). The term error curve arises when one considers the distribution of errors (x — /x) about the true value. 

Table 2.26a lists the height of an ordinate (Y) as a distance z from the mean, and Table 2.26b the area under the normal curve at a distance z from the mean, expressed as fractions of the total area, 1.000. Returning to Fig. 2.10, we note that 68.27% of the area of the normal distribution curve lies within 1 standard deviation of the center or mean value. Therefore, 31.73% lies outside those limits and 15.86% on each side. Ninety-five percent (actually 95.43%) of the area lies within 2 standard deviations, and 99.73% lies within 3 standard deviations of the mean. Often the last two areas are stated slightly different viz. 95% of the area lies within 1.96cr (approximately 2cr) and 99% lies within approximately 2.5cr. The mean falls at exactly the 50% point for symmetric normal distributions. 

The distribution curves may be regarded as histograms in which the class intervals (see p. 26) are indefinitely narrow and in which the size distribution follows the normal or log-normal law exactly. The distribution curves constructed from experimental data will deviate more or less widely from the ideal form, partly because the number of particles in the sample is necessarily severely limited, and partly because the postulated distribution... 

Confidence Intervals for Normal Distribution Curves Between the Limits p zo... 

The data in Table 4.12 are best displayed as a histogram, in which the frequency of occurrence for equal intervals of data is plotted versus the midpoint of each interval. Table 4.13 and figure 4.8 show a frequency table and histogram for the data in Table 4.12. Note that the histogram was constructed such that the mean value for the data set is centered within its interval. In addition, a normal distribution curve using X and to estimate p, and is superimposed on the histogram. 

The second complication is that the values of z shown in Table 4.11 are derived for a normal distribution curve that is a function of O, not s. Although is an unbiased estimator of O, the value of for any randomly selected sample may differ significantly from O. To account for the uncertainty in estimating O, the term z in equation 4.11 is replaced with the variable f, where f is defined such that f > z at all confidence levels. Thus, equation 4.11 becomes... 

Relationship between confidence intervals and results of a significance test, (a) The shaded area under the normal distribution curves shows the apparent confidence intervals for the sample based on fexp. The solid bars in (b) and (c) show the actual confidence intervals that can be explained by indeterminate error using the critical value of (a,v). In part (b) the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. In part (c) the null hypothesis is retained. 

Normal distribution curves showing the definition of detection limit and limit of identification (LOI). The probability of a type 1 error is indicated by the dark shading, and the probability of a type 2 error is indicated by light shading. 

Interpreting Control Charts The purpose of a control chart is to determine if a system is in statistical control. This determination is made by examining the location of individual points in relation to the warning limits and the control limits, and the distribution of the points around the central line. If we assume that the data are normally distributed, then the probability of finding a point at any distance from the mean value can be determined from the normal distribution curve. The upper and lower control limits for a property control chart, for example, are set to +3S, which, if S is a good approximation for O, includes 99.74% of the data. The probability that a point will fall outside the UCL or LCL, therefore, is only 0.26%. The... 

For example, the proportion of the area under a normal distribution curve that lies to the right of a deviation of 0.04 is 0.4840, or 48.40%. The area to the left of the deviation is given as 1 - P. Thus, 51.60% of the area under the normal distribution curve lies to the left of a deviation of 0.04. When the deviation is negative, the values in the table give the proportion of the area under the normal distribution curve that lies to the left of z therefore, 48.40% of the area lies to the left, and 51.60% of the area lies to the right of a deviation of -0.04. 

TABLE 3-4 Ordinates and Areas between Abscissa Values -z and +z of the Normal Distribution Curve... 

Mathematical Models for Distribution Curves Mathematical models have been developed to fit the various distribution cur ves. It is most unlikely that any frequency distribution cur ve obtained in practice will exactly fit a cur ve plotted from any of these mathematical models. Nevertheless, the approximations are extremely useful, particularly in view of the inherent inaccuracies of practical data. The most common are the binomial, Poisson, and normal, or gaussian, distributions. 

The variability or spread of the data does not always take the form of the true Normal distribution of course. There can be skewness in the shape of the distribution curve, this means the distribution is not symmetrical, leading to the distribution appearing lopsided . However, the approach is adequate for distributions which are fairly symmetrical about the tolerance limits. But what about when the distribution mean is not symmetrical about the tolerance limits A second index, Cp, is used to accommodate this shift or drift in the process. It has been estimated that over a very large number of lots produced, the mean could expect to drift about 1.5cr (standard deviations) from the target value or the centre of the tolerance limits and is caused by some problem in the process, for example tooling settings have been altered or a new supplier for the material being processed. 

If a result is quoted as having an uncertainty of 1 standard deviation, an equivalent statement would be the 68.3% confidence limits are given by Xmean 1 Sjc, the reason being that the area under a normal distribution curve between z = -1.0 to z = 1.0 is 0.683. Now, confidence limits on the 68% level are not very useful for decision making because in one-third of all... 

Figure 1.15. Student s f-distiibutions for 1 (bottom), 2, 5, and 100 (top) degrees of freedom /. The hatched area between the innermost marks is in all cases 80% of the total area under the respective curve. The other marks designate the points at which the area reaches 90, resp. 95% of the total area. This shows how the r-factor varies with /. The t-distribution for / = 100 already very closely matches the normal distribution. The normal distribution, which corresponds to t(f = o), does not depend on/.

An area-equivalent Gaussian ( normal ) distribution curve can be superimposed. 

To establish the validity of the numerical scalar technique for RTD analysis, the normalized exit age distribution curve of both counter-current (Figure 1 (a-b)) and cocurrent (Figure 1 (c-d)) flow modes were compared. Table 1 shows that a good agreement was obtained between CFD simulation and experimental data. 

---