High School

Is the 68-95-99.7 rule a shorthand to remember how data in a normal distribution are spread around the mean?

Answer :

Final answer:

The 68-95-99.7 rule, or Empirical Rule, is a mnemonic to remember the distribution percentages of data around the mean in a normal distribution: 68% within one standard deviation, 95% within two, and 99.7% within three.

Explanation:

The 68-95-99.7 rule, also known as the Empirical Rule, is indeed a shorthand used to remember how data is spread around the mean in a bell-shaped normal distribution.

According to this rule, approximately:

68 percent of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean,95 percent of the data falls within two standard deviations of the mean, and99.7 percent of the data falls within three standard deviations of the mean.

This rule is applicable when the data distribution is normal and symmetric, characterized by a bell-shaped curve where the mean, median, and mode coincide at the peak of the curve. Importantly, this rule doesn't apply to distributions that are not normal or symmetrical.