Z-scores

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Algebra II › Z-scores

Questions 1 - 10
1

Your teacher tells you that the mean score for a test was a and that the standard deviation was for your class.

You are given that the -score for your test was . What did you score on your test?

Explanation

The formula for a z-score is

where = mean and = standard deviation and =your test grade.

Plugging in your z-score, mean, and standard deviation that was originally given in the question we get the following.

Now to find the grade you got on the test we will solve for .

2

A large group of test scores is normally distributed with mean 78.2 and standard deviation 4.3. What percent of the students scored 85 or better (nearest whole percent)?

Explanation

If the mean of a normally distributed set of scores is and the standard deviation is , then the -score corresponding to a test score of is

From a -score table, in a normal distribution,

We want the percent of students whose test score is 85 or better, so we want . This is

or about 5.7 % The correct choice is 6%.

3

Sarah scored an 8.5 out of ten on her gymnastics floor routine. If the mean of the scores is 9.2 and the standard deviation is 1.3, what is her z-score?

Explanation

Write the formula for z-scores. Z-scores are indicators of how many standard deviations above or below the mean.

Substitute the known values.

The answer is:

4

Find the z-score if the result of a test score is 6, the mean is 8, the standard deviation is 2.

Explanation

Write the formula to determine the z-scores.

Substitute all the known values into the formula to determine the z-score.

Simplify this equation.

The answer is:

5

In a normal distribution, if the mean score is 8 in a gymnastics competition and the student scores a 9.3, what is the z-score if the standard deviation is 2.5?

Explanation

Write the formula to find the z-score. Z-scores are defined as the number of standard deviations from the given mean.

Substitute the values into the formula and solve for the z-score.

6

A distributor manufactures a product that has an average weight of pounds.

If the standard deviation is pounds, determine the z-score of a product that has a weight of pounds.

Explanation

The z-score can be expressed as

where

Therefore the z-score is:

7

You just took your ACT. The mean score was a with a standard deviation of . If you scored a , what is your z-score?

Explanation

Use the formula for z-score:

Where is your score, is the mean, and is the standard deviation.

8

On a statistics exam, the mean score was and there was a standard deviation of . If a student's actual score of , what is his/her z-score?

Explanation

The z-score is a measure of an actual score's distance from the mean in terms of the standard deviation. The formula is:

Where are the mean and standard deviation, respectively. is the actual score.

If we plug in the values we have from the original problem we have

which is approximately .

9

The mean grade on a science test was 79 and there was a standard deviation of 6. If your sister scored an 88, what is her z-score?

Explanation

Use the formula for z-score:

Where is her test score, is the mean, and is the standard deviation.

10

Suppose a student scored a on a test. The mean of the tests are , and the standard deviation is . What is the student's z-score?

Explanation

Write the formula for z-score where is the data, is the population mean, and is the population standard deviation.

Substitute the variables.

The z-score is:

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