Activity Overview
This lesson involves creating a normal probability plot for several data sets involving height to examine the appearance of such plots when the distribution is approximately normal.
Objectives
- Students will identify the shape of a distribution as being skewed or mound-shaped and approximately symmetric.
- Students will recognize that a normal probability plot of skewed data is nonlinear and either concave up or concave down.
- Students will recognize that a normal probability plot of approximately normal data is approximately linear.
- Students will identify outliers on a normal probability plot.
Vocabulary
- normal
- normal probability plot
- outlier
- skew
- symmetric
About the Lesson
This lesson involves creating a normal probability plot for several data sets involving height to examine the appearance of such plots when the distribution is approximately normal.
As a result, students will:
- Use a histogram to discuss the shape of the distribution of a data set.
- Describe a normal probability plot for data sets whose distributions are skewed, approximately normal, or contain outliers.
- Move data values in a dot plot to investigate how the shape of a distribution compares to the linearity of a normal probability plot.