Name: ____________________________________ Date: __________________
THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION AND Z-SCORES
COMMON CORE ALGEBRA II HOMEWORK
FLUENCY
1. A population has a mean of 24.8 and a standard deviation of 4.2 . For each of the following data
values, calculate the z-value to the nearest hundredth. You do not need to read the Normal table.
(a) xi 30 (b) xi 35 (c) xi 19
(d) xi 15.4 (e) xi 24.8 (f) xi 33.2
2. A population has a mean of 102.8 and a standard deviation of 15.4. If a data point has a z-value of 1.87 then
which of the following is the value of the data point?
(1) 28.8 (3) 131.6
(2) 86.7 (4) 152.3
APPLICATIONS
Get practice with both the Normal Distribution Table and your calculator when doing the following problems.
3. A recent study found that the mean amount spent by individuals on a music service website was normally
distributed with a mean of $384 with a standard deviation of $48. Which of the following gives the
proportion of the individuals that spend more than $400?
(1) 0.43 (3) 0.12
(2) 0.74 (4) 0.37
4. The hold time experienced by people calling a government agency was found to be normally distributed
with a mean of 12.4 minutes and a standard deviation of 4.3 minutes. Which percent below represents the
percent of calls answered in less than 5 minutes?
(1) 4.3% (3) 6.8%
(2) 5.3% (4) 12.9%
COMMON CORE ALGEBRA II, UNIT #13 – STATISTICS – LESSON #4
eMATHINSTRUCTION, RED HOOK, NY 12571, © 2015
5. The national average price per gallon for gasoline is normally distributed with a mean (currently) of $2.34
per gallon with a standard deviation of $0.26 per gallon. Which of the following represents the proportion of
the gas prices that lie between $2.00 and $3.00?
(1) 56% (3) 84%
(2) 72% (4) 90%
6. If the average teacher salary in the United States is $45,753 and salaries are normally distributed with a
standard deviation of $7890, would a salary of $40,000 per year be in the lowest quintile of teacher salary?
(Do a quick Internet search on the term quintile if you don't know what it means).
7. The average rent for a one bedroom apartment (in the Winter of 2015) in New York City is a whopping
$2801 per month with a standard deviation of $920.
(a) If rents are normally distributed, what percent of (b) If rents are normally distributed, how realistic is
the apartments will be less than $2,500 per it to believe you will be able to rent a one-
month? bedroom in New York City for less than $1,500
per month? Justify your answer.
(c) A one-bedroom on the Upper East Side with a (d) Do you think the rents are normally distributed?
doorman and views of Central Park was listed at Keep in mind the normal distribution is
$5,000 per month. How rare is this? Assume the symmetric about its mean (looks the same on
rents are normally distributed. both sides). If it isn't symmetric, what does it
look like?
8. A national math competition advances to the second round only the top 5% of all participants based on
scores from a first round exam. Their scores are normally distributed with a mean of 76.2 and a standard
deviation of 17.1. What score, to the nearest whole number, would be necessary to make it to the second
round? To start, look at the table and see if you can determine the z-value that corresponds to the top 5%.
COMMON CORE ALGEBRA II, UNIT #13 – STATISTICS – LESSON #4
eMATHINSTRUCTION, RED HOOK, NY 12571, © 2015