Finding the mean and the standard deviation from percentages

Statistics, grade 11 (4 units) Lesson 10 of 20Learning

Finding the mean and the standard deviation from percentages

An equation from each percentage

Each known percentage gives a standard score from the table, and each standard score gives an equation:

x=\mu+z\cdot\sigma

If $\displaystyle \mu$ or $\displaystyle \sigma$ is known – one equation is enough.
If neither is known – two percentages are needed, and from them a system of two equations.

Example: the mean, when the standard deviation is known

The height of 17-year-old boys is normally distributed, with standard deviation 7 cm.
80% of the boys are shorter than 182 cm.
What is the mean height?

The area to the left of 182 is 0.8, and the nearest in the table is 0.7995: $\displaystyle {z}={0.84}$ .
$\displaystyle {182}={\mu+0.84\cdot7}$ .
$\displaystyle {\mu}={182-5.88}={176.12}$ cm.

Example: the mean and the standard deviation from two percentages

The time it takes to answer a quiz question is normally distributed.
15.87% of the players answer in less than 35 seconds.
5.48% of the players answer in more than 48 seconds.
What are the mean and the standard deviation?

To the left of 35 the area is 0.1587: in the table $\displaystyle {z}={-1}$ .
To the left of 48 the area is $\displaystyle {1-0.0548}={0.9452}$ : in the table $\displaystyle {z}={1.6}$ .
Calling the mean $\displaystyle m$ and the standard deviation $\displaystyle s$ , we get:

\begin{cases}m-s=35\\m+1.6s=48\end{cases}

Subtracting the first equation from the second: $\displaystyle {2.6s}={13}$ , so $\displaystyle {s}={5}$ .
Substituting in the first: $\displaystyle {m}={40}$ .

Two equal percentages on the two sides

When the same percentage is above one value and below another, the mean is halfway between them – by the symmetry. Then $\displaystyle \mu$ is found first, and $\displaystyle \sigma$ from one equation after it.

Exercise 1

A large school checked how long a day its pupils spend on the internet.
The time is normally distributed, and the standard deviation is 25 minutes.
90% of the pupils spend less than 180 minutes a day on the internet.

How many minutes a day, on average, do the pupils spend on the internet? Call the mean $\displaystyle m$ .

What percentage of the pupils spend less than 120 minutes a day on the internet?

/ – fraction bar · Tab or the arrows – between numerator and denominator, then a note above or below · Enter – check and a new line · * – times · ^ – power, ↓ – end of the power

/ – fraction bar · Tab or the arrows – between numerator and denominator, then a note above or below · Enter – a new line · * – times · ^ – power, ↓ – end of the power

Exercise 2

A machine fills bottles, and the amount in a bottle is normally distributed, with mean 500 ml.
4% of the bottles hold less than 493 ml.
What is the standard deviation? Call it $\displaystyle s$ .

Exercise 3

The marks in a university entrance exam are normally distributed.
10% of those who sat it scored more than 84.
10% of those who sat it scored less than 68.

Sketch the curve and mark the data on it.

What is the mean mark?

/ – fraction bar · Tab or the arrows – between numerator and denominator, then a note above or below · Enter – a new line · * – times · ^ – power, ↓ – end of the power

What is the standard deviation? Call it $\displaystyle s$ .

In one year 2,000 people sat the exam. How many of them scored between one standard deviation below the mean and one standard deviation above it?

/ – fraction bar · Tab or the arrows – between numerator and denominator, then a note above or below · Enter – a new line · * – times · ^ – power, ↓ – end of the power

Exercise 4

The journey time of a bus on a certain route is normally distributed.
21.19% of the journeys take less than 52 minutes.
6.68% of the journeys take more than 75 minutes.
What are the mean and the standard deviation? Call the mean $\displaystyle m$ and the standard deviation $\displaystyle s$ .

Formulas: statistics, grade 11 (4 units)

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The mean and the standard deviation

The mean – $\displaystyle f_1, \dots, f_n$ the frequencies, $\displaystyle N$ the number of data
$\displaystyle \bar{x}=\frac{x_1f_1+x_2f_2+\dots+x_nf_n}{N}$
The standard deviation
$\displaystyle S=\sqrt{\frac{(x_1-\bar{x})^{2}f_1+(x_2-\bar{x})^{2}f_2+\dots+(x_n-\bar{x})^{2}f_n}{N}}$

The standard score

The standard score of the value $\displaystyle x$
$\displaystyle z=\frac{x-\bar{x}}{S}$
The value whose standard score is $\displaystyle z$
$\displaystyle x=\bar{x}+z\cdot S$

The normal distribution

The standard score in a normal distribution – $\displaystyle \mu$ the mean, $\displaystyle \sigma$ the standard deviation
$\displaystyle z=\frac{x-\mu}{\sigma}$
Within one standard deviation of the mean
$\displaystyle P(\mu-\sigma<X<\mu+\sigma)\approx68\%$
Within two standard deviations of the mean
$\displaystyle P(\mu-2\sigma<X<\mu+2\sigma)\approx95\%$
Above a standard score
$\displaystyle P(Z>z)=1-P(Z<z)$
The curve’s symmetry
$\displaystyle P(Z>z)=P(Z<-z)$
Between two standard scores
$\displaystyle P(z_1<Z<z_2)=P(Z<z_2)-P(Z<z_1)$

The cumulative standard normal table

In the table: the row – $\displaystyle z$ to its first decimal place; the column – the second. In a negative row the column goes further from 0: row $\displaystyle -1.2$ , column 3 holds $\displaystyle \Phi(-1.23)$ .
$\displaystyle \Phi(z)=P(Z<z)$

`z`	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
-3.0	0.0013	0.0013	0.0013	0.0012	0.0012	0.0011	0.0011	0.0011	0.0010	0.0010
-2.9	0.0019	0.0018	0.0018	0.0017	0.0016	0.0016	0.0015	0.0015	0.0014	0.0014
-2.8	0.0026	0.0025	0.0024	0.0023	0.0023	0.0022	0.0021	0.0021	0.0020	0.0019
-2.7	0.0035	0.0034	0.0033	0.0032	0.0031	0.0030	0.0029	0.0028	0.0027	0.0026
-2.6	0.0047	0.0045	0.0044	0.0043	0.0041	0.0040	0.0039	0.0038	0.0037	0.0036
-2.5	0.0062	0.0060	0.0059	0.0057	0.0055	0.0054	0.0052	0.0051	0.0049	0.0048
-2.4	0.0082	0.0080	0.0078	0.0075	0.0073	0.0071	0.0069	0.0068	0.0066	0.0064
-2.3	0.0107	0.0104	0.0102	0.0099	0.0096	0.0094	0.0091	0.0089	0.0087	0.0084
-2.2	0.0139	0.0136	0.0132	0.0129	0.0125	0.0122	0.0119	0.0116	0.0113	0.0110
-2.1	0.0179	0.0174	0.0170	0.0166	0.0162	0.0158	0.0154	0.0150	0.0146	0.0143
-2.0	0.0228	0.0222	0.0217	0.0212	0.0207	0.0202	0.0197	0.0192	0.0188	0.0183
-1.9	0.0287	0.0281	0.0274	0.0268	0.0262	0.0256	0.0250	0.0244	0.0239	0.0233
-1.8	0.0359	0.0351	0.0344	0.0336	0.0329	0.0322	0.0314	0.0307	0.0301	0.0294
-1.7	0.0446	0.0436	0.0427	0.0418	0.0409	0.0401	0.0392	0.0384	0.0375	0.0367
-1.6	0.0548	0.0537	0.0526	0.0516	0.0505	0.0495	0.0485	0.0475	0.0465	0.0455
-1.5	0.0668	0.0655	0.0643	0.0630	0.0618	0.0606	0.0594	0.0582	0.0571	0.0559
-1.4	0.0808	0.0793	0.0778	0.0764	0.0749	0.0735	0.0721	0.0708	0.0694	0.0681
-1.3	0.0968	0.0951	0.0934	0.0918	0.0901	0.0885	0.0869	0.0853	0.0838	0.0823
-1.2	0.1151	0.1131	0.1112	0.1093	0.1075	0.1056	0.1038	0.1020	0.1003	0.0985
-1.1	0.1357	0.1335	0.1314	0.1292	0.1271	0.1251	0.1230	0.1210	0.1190	0.1170
-1.0	0.1587	0.1562	0.1539	0.1515	0.1492	0.1469	0.1446	0.1423	0.1401	0.1379
-0.9	0.1841	0.1814	0.1788	0.1762	0.1736	0.1711	0.1685	0.1660	0.1635	0.1611
-0.8	0.2119	0.2090	0.2061	0.2033	0.2005	0.1977	0.1949	0.1922	0.1894	0.1867
-0.7	0.2420	0.2389	0.2358	0.2327	0.2296	0.2266	0.2236	0.2206	0.2177	0.2148
-0.6	0.2743	0.2709	0.2676	0.2643	0.2611	0.2578	0.2546	0.2514	0.2483	0.2451
-0.5	0.3085	0.3050	0.3015	0.2981	0.2946	0.2912	0.2877	0.2843	0.2810	0.2776
-0.4	0.3446	0.3409	0.3372	0.3336	0.3300	0.3264	0.3228	0.3192	0.3156	0.3121
-0.3	0.3821	0.3783	0.3745	0.3707	0.3669	0.3632	0.3594	0.3557	0.3520	0.3483
-0.2	0.4207	0.4168	0.4129	0.4090	0.4052	0.4013	0.3974	0.3936	0.3897	0.3859
-0.1	0.4602	0.4562	0.4522	0.4483	0.4443	0.4404	0.4364	0.4325	0.4286	0.4247
-0.0	0.5000	0.4960	0.4920	0.4880	0.4840	0.4801	0.4761	0.4721	0.4681	0.4641
0.0	0.5000	0.5040	0.5080	0.5120	0.5160	0.5199	0.5239	0.5279	0.5319	0.5359
0.1	0.5398	0.5438	0.5478	0.5517	0.5557	0.5596	0.5636	0.5675	0.5714	0.5753
0.2	0.5793	0.5832	0.5871	0.5910	0.5948	0.5987	0.6026	0.6064	0.6103	0.6141
0.3	0.6179	0.6217	0.6255	0.6293	0.6331	0.6368	0.6406	0.6443	0.6480	0.6517
0.4	0.6554	0.6591	0.6628	0.6664	0.6700	0.6736	0.6772	0.6808	0.6844	0.6879
0.5	0.6915	0.6950	0.6985	0.7019	0.7054	0.7088	0.7123	0.7157	0.7190	0.7224
0.6	0.7257	0.7291	0.7324	0.7357	0.7389	0.7422	0.7454	0.7486	0.7517	0.7549
0.7	0.7580	0.7611	0.7642	0.7673	0.7704	0.7734	0.7764	0.7794	0.7823	0.7852
0.8	0.7881	0.7910	0.7939	0.7967	0.7995	0.8023	0.8051	0.8078	0.8106	0.8133
0.9	0.8159	0.8186	0.8212	0.8238	0.8264	0.8289	0.8315	0.8340	0.8365	0.8389
1.0	0.8413	0.8438	0.8461	0.8485	0.8508	0.8531	0.8554	0.8577	0.8599	0.8621
1.1	0.8643	0.8665	0.8686	0.8708	0.8729	0.8749	0.8770	0.8790	0.8810	0.8830
1.2	0.8849	0.8869	0.8888	0.8907	0.8925	0.8944	0.8962	0.8980	0.8997	0.9015
1.3	0.9032	0.9049	0.9066	0.9082	0.9099	0.9115	0.9131	0.9147	0.9162	0.9177
1.4	0.9192	0.9207	0.9222	0.9236	0.9251	0.9265	0.9279	0.9292	0.9306	0.9319
1.5	0.9332	0.9345	0.9357	0.9370	0.9382	0.9394	0.9406	0.9418	0.9429	0.9441
1.6	0.9452	0.9463	0.9474	0.9484	0.9495	0.9505	0.9515	0.9525	0.9535	0.9545
1.7	0.9554	0.9564	0.9573	0.9582	0.9591	0.9599	0.9608	0.9616	0.9625	0.9633
1.8	0.9641	0.9649	0.9656	0.9664	0.9671	0.9678	0.9686	0.9693	0.9699	0.9706
1.9	0.9713	0.9719	0.9726	0.9732	0.9738	0.9744	0.9750	0.9756	0.9761	0.9767
2.0	0.9772	0.9778	0.9783	0.9788	0.9793	0.9798	0.9803	0.9808	0.9812	0.9817
2.1	0.9821	0.9826	0.9830	0.9834	0.9838	0.9842	0.9846	0.9850	0.9854	0.9857
2.2	0.9861	0.9864	0.9868	0.9871	0.9875	0.9878	0.9881	0.9884	0.9887	0.9890
2.3	0.9893	0.9896	0.9898	0.9901	0.9904	0.9906	0.9909	0.9911	0.9913	0.9916
2.4	0.9918	0.9920	0.9922	0.9925	0.9927	0.9929	0.9931	0.9932	0.9934	0.9936
2.5	0.9938	0.9940	0.9941	0.9943	0.9945	0.9946	0.9948	0.9949	0.9951	0.9952
2.6	0.9953	0.9955	0.9956	0.9957	0.9959	0.9960	0.9961	0.9962	0.9963	0.9964
2.7	0.9965	0.9966	0.9967	0.9968	0.9969	0.9970	0.9971	0.9972	0.9973	0.9974
2.8	0.9974	0.9975	0.9976	0.9977	0.9977	0.9978	0.9979	0.9979	0.9980	0.9981
2.9	0.9981	0.9982	0.9982	0.9983	0.9984	0.9984	0.9985	0.9985	0.9986	0.9986
3.0	0.9987	0.9987	0.9987	0.9988	0.9988	0.9989	0.9989	0.9989	0.9990	0.9990

The correlation coefficient

From raw data
$\displaystyle r=\frac{1}{N\cdot S_x\cdot S_y}\left[(x_1-\bar{x})(y_1-\bar{y})+\dots+(x_N-\bar{x})(y_N-\bar{y})\right]$
From standardised data – $\displaystyle z_x$ , $\displaystyle z_y$ the standard scores
$\displaystyle r=\frac{1}{N}\left[(z_x)_1(z_y)_1+\dots+(z_x)_N(z_y)_N\right]$
Always between $\displaystyle -1$ and $\displaystyle 1$
$\displaystyle -1\le r\le1$

The regression line

The slope of the regression line
$\displaystyle m=r\cdot\frac{S_y}{S_x}$
The regression line predicting $\displaystyle y$ from $\displaystyle x$ – through the point of the means
$\displaystyle y-\bar{y}=m(x-\bar{x})$