normal distribution concept
| Definition | The bell-shaped distribution with mean mu and standard deviation sigma, with about 68 percent of its mass within one standard deviation, 95 within two, and 99.7 within three, and 1.96 the multiplier for exactly 95. Averages of many independent variables are close to it. Primer S, equation S.8. Also normal approximation, normally distributed. |
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| Example | A mean with standard error 0.8 has the 95 percent interval plus or minus 1.568. |
| Book | Data Mining as Observation, draft 0.2, commit f3914f0; entry id normal-distribution, kind concept. |
| Status | no ledger row names this entry. Corrections: none recorded. |
| Defining equation | none |
| Assumptions and scope | none |
| Prior art | none recorded |
| Evidence | none |
| Reviewed | semantic review 2026-09-09; generated 2026-09-10 from records at the commits on the provenance page. |
Equation
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Conditions
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Ledger
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First stated
Primer S section S.3 of Data Mining as Observation, added in draft 0.3 (2026-09-09) for the ECE 514 readers whose first courses are far behind. The idea is standard and TSK Appendix C covers it at length.
Measurements
none
Failures and corrections
none
Invariance envelope
none declared
Machine checked
none
Used in
Data Mining as Observation primer S.
Related
Gaussian; central limit theorem; confidence interval; standard error.
See also
Book equations stated beside the entry’s terms, not defining it: S.8.
Status
Generated 2026-09-10 by encyclopedia/generate.py; book
at observation-data-mining f3914f0; the commit of every record is listed
in the encyclopedia’s provenance.