Activity Description Change the standard deviation of an automatically generated normal distribution to create a new histogram. Observe how well the histogram fits the curve, and how areas under the curve correspond to the number of trials. Parameters: standard deviation, number of trials, class intervals.

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Normal Distribution

Place in mathematics curriculum:

• reinforce graphically the concepts of median and standard deviation
• demonstrate the difference between theoretical (infinite-trial) and actual (small or large sample) data

This activity allows the user to experiment with continuous or many-trial distributions where the mean, median, and mode are the same. This activity would work well in mixed ability groups of two to four for about twenty-five minutes to thirty if you use the exploration questions and five to ten minutes otherwise.

Preparations for this activity:

• answer the question "What makes a distribution normal?"
• discuss sample size and its effects on the result of an experiment