Normal Distributions Calculations Practice (Review)
Chapter 2 - Day 8
Learning Targets
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Find the proportion of values to the left of a boundary in a normal distribution.
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Find the proportion of values to the right of a boundary in a normal distribution.
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Find the proportion of values between two boundaries in a normal distribution.
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Find the value that corresponds to a given percentile in a normal distribution.
Normal distribution calculations are so vital to our future success in this class, so we spend an extra day doing some practice problems. Students worked in pairs, and then we had students put solutions on the board. As a class, we critiqued each solution on the board, being sure to look for (1) correctly labeled and shaded picture, (2) z-score work shown, and (3) correct z-score and area.
Next we showed the students how to use the Normal Distribution applet to do the same normal distribution calculations. No z-score calculations…just simply type in the mean and standard deviation, and tell the applet which area you are looking for. Students were mad. While the applet is slick, we still require our students to use z-scores and show the work. We are planting the seeds for them to later understand the P-value.