NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

1) The volume of a bottle of drinking waler produced by a factory is normally

distributed with a mean of 500 ml and a standard deviation of 20 ml
a) Calculate the probability that a bottle of drinking water chosen at random will have
a volume 485 ml and 505 ml [3 m]
b) If a bottle of drinking water is chosen at random, calculate the percentage that its
volume is more than 492 ml [3 m]

2) The lengths of fish caught from a fish pond are normally distributed with a mean of
50 cm and a variance of 36 cm2. Calculate
a) the probability that a fish caught will have a length of more than 55 cm [2 m]
b) the percentage of fish caught that have lengths between 44 cm and 62 cm. [4 m]
3) The diamelers of steel pipes produced by a factory are normally distributed with a
mean of 95 mm and a standard deviation of 2 mm. If a steel pipe is chosen at
random, find the probability that its diameter is
a) less than 92 mm,
b) between 92 mm and 97 mm.
Hence, if there are 465 steel pipes with diameters between 92 mm and 97 mm
produced in a certain period of time, find the total number of steel pipes produced in
that period of time [7 m]

4) The masses of schoolbags of primary school students follow a normal distribution

with a mean of 15 kg and a standard deviation of 3 kg,
a) Find the probability that the mass of a schoolbag chosen at random will be less than
19 kg. [2 m]
b) If 30 out of l50 school bags have masses of more than m kg, find the value of m.
[4 m]
5) The mass of impurities in a water sample taken from a river follows a normal
distribution. The mean and standard deviation of the mass of impurities are 2.2 mg
and 0.8 mg respectively. The percentage that a water sample contains more than k
mg of impurities is 32.64% and the percentage that a water sample contains less than
h mg of impurities is 30.85%. Calculate the value of k and of h. [6 m]

6) The diameters of table – tennis balls produced by a factory follow a normal

distribution with a mean of μ mm and a standard deviation of σ mm. It is known that
22.66% of the balls have diameters of more than 41.5 mm and 10.56% of the balls
have diameters of less than 37.5 mm. Find the value of μ and of σ. [6 m]
7) The mass of a pill made by a factory is normally distributed with a mean of μ mg
and a standard deviation of 0.5 mg.
a) 15.87% of the pills chosen at random have a mass of more than 7.5 mg. Find the
value of μ. [3 m]
b) Calculate the number of pills that have a mass between 6.4 mg and 7.8 mg if 2000
pills are produced in a certain period of time. [2 m]

8) the speeds of vehicles on a highway are normally distributed with a mean of 100 km
per hour and a standard deviation of σ km per hour.
a) 30.85% of the vehicles observed have speeds greater than 105 km per hour. Find the
value of σ. [3 m]
b) Using the value of σ in (a), calculate the probability that a vehicle chosen at random
travels at a speed between 96 km per hour and l08 km per hour. [2 m]
9) The masses of watermelons produced from an orchard follow a normal distribution
with a mean of 3.2 kg and a standard deviation of 0.5 kg. Find
a) The probability that a watermelon chosen randomly from the orchard has a mass of
not more than 4.0 kg.
b) The value of 𝑚 if 60% of the watermelons from the orchard has a mass of more
than 𝑚 kg.

10) A group of workers are given medical checkup. The blood pressure of a worker has
a normal distribution with a mean of 130 mmHg and a standard deviation of 16
mmHg. Blood pressure that is more than 150 mmHg is classified as ‘high blood
pressure’.
a) A worker is chosen at random from the group. Find the probability that the worker
has a blood pressure between 114 mmHg and 150 mmHg.
b) It is found that 132 workers have ‘high blood pressure’. Find the total number of
workers in the group.
11) In a cross country event participated by 500 students, the time taken for the run
follows a normal distribution with a mean of 20 minutes and a standard deviation of
10 minutes. Participants will not be given any point if they take more than 32
minutes to complete the run.
a) If a participant is chosen at random, find the probability that the participant does not
get any point.
b) Medals were awarded to the first 80 participants who took less than 𝑡 minutes to
complete the run. Find the value of t.

12) The masses of mangoes from an orchard have a normal distribution with a mean of
300 g and a standard deviation of 80 g. A random sample of 500 mangoes is
chosen.
a) Calculate the number of mangoes from this sample that have a mass of more than
168 g.
b) Given that 435 mangoes from this sample have a mass of more than 𝑚 g, find the
value of 𝑚.
13) An orchard produces lemons. Only lemons with diameter, 𝑥 greater than 𝑘 cm are
graded and marketed. Table shows the grades of lemons based on their diameters.

Grade 𝐴 𝐵 𝐶
Diameter, 𝑥 (cm) 𝑥>7 7≥𝑥>5 5≥𝑥>𝑘

It is given that the diameters of the lemons have a normal distribution with a mean
of 5.8 cm and a standard deviation of 1.5 cm.

a) If one lemon is picked at random, calculate the probability that it is of grade 𝐴.

b) In a basket of 500 lemons, estimate the number of grade 𝐵 lemons.
c) If 85.7% of the lemons is marketed, find the value of 𝑘.
14) The diagram shows a probability distribution
graph of a continuous random variable X that
is normally distributed with a standard
deviation of 10. The graph is symmetrical
about the vertical line PQ.
a) If the z – score obtained by standardising the
value of k is -1, find the value of k.
b) Hence, find the area of the shaded region
c) If X represents the masses, in kg, of 100 ladies
who attended a weight reduction programme,
estimate the number of ladies who have
masses between 78 kg and 84 kg.