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Normal

Definition

In statistics, normal refers to a distribution that follows a specific bell-shaped curve called the normal distribution. The normal distribution is symmetric and characterized by its mean and standard deviation.

Analogy

Normal distribution is like a perfectly balanced see-saw. The center point represents the mean, and as you move away from it in either direction, you encounter fewer data points. The balance and symmetry resemble how data is distributed in a normal distribution.

Related terms

Standard Deviation: Standard deviation measures how spread out or dispersed data points are from their mean.

Z-Score: A z-score indicates how many standard deviations an individual data point is away from the mean.

Skewness: Skewness measures whether a dataset has a symmetrical (normal) or skewed distribution.

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AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.