The properties of standard scores

Statistics, grade 11 (4 units) Lesson 3 of 20Learning

The properties of standard scores

The standard scores of all the values

Eight pupils counted how many hours they slept last night: 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9.
The mean $\displaystyle {\bar{x}}={5}$ , and the standard deviation $\displaystyle {S}={2}$ .

Hours of sleep $\displaystyle x$	2	4	4	4	5	5	7	9
Standard score $\displaystyle z$	$\displaystyle -1.5$	$\displaystyle -0.5$	$\displaystyle -0.5$	$\displaystyle -0.5$	$\displaystyle 0$	$\displaystyle 0$	$\displaystyle 1$	$\displaystyle 2$

The mean of the standard scores: $\displaystyle {\frac{-1.5-0.5-0.5-0.5+0+0+1+2}{8}}={\frac{0}{8}}={0}$ .
Their standard deviation: $\displaystyle {\sqrt{\frac{2.25+0.25+0.25+0.25+0+0+1+4}{8}}}={\sqrt{\frac{8}{8}}}={1}$ .

Mean 0 and standard deviation 1

In every set of data:

The mean of the standard scores is 0: subtracting $\displaystyle \bar{x}$ from every value moves the mean to 0, and dividing by $\displaystyle S$ keeps it 0.
The standard deviation of the standard scores is 1: subtracting does not change the standard deviation, and dividing by $\displaystyle S$ divides it by $\displaystyle S$ – leaving $\displaystyle {\frac{S}{S}}={1}$ .
Positive and negative standard scores balance each other: the sum of all the standard scores in a group is 0.

A standard score is a number without units

In $\displaystyle {z}={\frac{x-\bar{x}}{S}}$ the numerator and the denominator are in the same units, and they cancel: a standard score is a number without units (dimensionless).

A height of 175 cm in a group whose mean is 165 cm and standard deviation 8 cm: $\displaystyle {z}={\frac{175-165}{8}}={1.25}$ .
The same height in metres: $\displaystyle {z}={\frac{1.75-1.65}{0.08}}={1.25}$ – the same standard score.
Adding a number to every value, or multiplying them all by a positive number, leaves the standard scores as they are: the value, the mean and the standard deviation change together.

Exercise 1

A basketball player scored 1, 5, 7, 9 and 13 points in five games.
The mean is 7 points.

a

Work out the standard deviation.

/ – 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

b

Work out the standard score of the game in which he scored 13 points.

/ – 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

c

Work out the standard scores of all five games, and then their mean.

/ – 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

Ziv is 1.80 metres tall.
In his class the mean height is 1.70 metres, and the standard deviation 0.08 metres.

a

Work out the standard score of Ziv’s height.

/ – 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

b

Work out the standard score again, this time in centimetres.

/ – 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 3

Noa’s standard score in a test is 0.6.
The teacher added 6 points to every pupil’s mark.
What is Noa’s standard score after the addition? Explain.

/ – 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 4

A group has five values.
The standard scores of four of them: 1.2, $\displaystyle -0.4$ , 0.5, $\displaystyle -2$ .
What is the standard score of the fifth value? Call it $\displaystyle z$ .

Formulas: statistics, grade 11 (4 units)

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
$\displaystyle y-\bar{y}=m(x-\bar{x})$