Exploring the Tails of the Normal Distribution

normal distribution parameters

μ

0

σ

1

view selection

full distribution

lower tail

upper tail

expand (→) or compress (←) plotted range by this factor

1

This Demonstration allows you to estimate the area under the tails of the normal distribution curve. Reading the value of the cumulative distribution function (orange curve) for a specific

x

value gives the area under the probability distribution function (blue curve) to the left (for the lower tail) or to the right (upper tail) of the

x

value. The probability distribution function can be adjusted to have values for the mean

μ

and standard deviation

σ

in the ranges (-10, 10) and (0.1, 15), respectively.