Normal Distribution
A Normal Distribution is:
also known as a Gaussian distribution and Bell Curve
applied to real-valued random variables
a type of probability distribution
characterized by its mean and standard deviation
applied to many natural phenomena
Normal Distribution Plot
The plot below illustrates a normal distribution where each band has a width of 1 Standard Deviation:
Mean and Variance
Visually, you can see the function curve shift as the variance (standard deviation squared) and mean change:
Occurrence in Nature
Normal Distributions of randomly selected data points are common in nature. Examples include human:
Blood Pressure
Height
IQ
Weight