STATISTICS AND
PROBABILITY
Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, the learner shall be
able to:
1. Illustrate the 𝑡 distribution; and
2. Identifies percentiles using 𝑡 table.
The 𝒕 Distribution
The 𝒕 Distribution
The 𝒕 distribution (also called Student’s t-distribution) is
a family of distributions that look almost identical to the
normal distribution curve, only a bit shorter and stouter.
The t-distribution is used instead of the normal
distribution when you have small samples. The larger
the sample size, the more the t distribution looks like
the normal distribution.
Characteristics of the 𝒕 Distribution
The 𝑡 distribution is similar to the standard normal
distribution in these ways:
1. It is bell-shaped.
2. It is symmetric about the mean.
3. The mean, median, and mode are equal to 0
and are located at the center of the distribution.
4. The curve never touches the x axis.
Degrees of Freedom and
𝒕 Distribution as Family of Curves
The degrees of freedom are the number of values that are
free to vary after a sample statistic has been computed,
and they tell the researcher which specific curve to use
when a distribution consists of a family of curves.
Degrees of Freedom and
𝒕 Distribution as Family of Curves
Note that the symbol 𝑑. 𝑓. Will be used for degrees
of freedom. It is found by subtracting the sample
size 𝑛 by 1. That is 𝑑. 𝑓 = 𝑛 − 1.
The 𝒕 Distribution Table
The bold italic t Distribution Table
Example 1:
Find the value of 𝑡 to the right of the mean when
𝑛 = 22 taken from a normally distributed population
and 𝛼 = 0.01.
Answer:
𝑑𝑓 = 𝑛 − 1
= 22 − 1
= 21
𝑡0.01 = 2.5176
Example 2:
Find the value of 𝑡 to the left of the mean when 𝑛 =
26 taken from a normally distributed population and
has a 95% confidence level.
Answer:
𝑑𝑓 = 𝑛 − 1
= 26 − 1
= 25
𝑡0.05 = −1.7081
Example 3:
Find the value of 𝑡 to the left and to the right of the
mean when 𝑛 = 26 and 𝛼 = 0.20.
Answer:
𝑑𝑓 = 𝑛 − 1
= 26 − 1
= 25
𝑡0.20 = ±1.3163
ANOTHER
EXAMPLES
1. A sample of size n=20 is a simple random sample
selected from a normally distributed population.
Find the value of t such that the shaded area to the
left of t is 0.05.
Answer:
𝑡0.05 = −1.7291
2. Suppose you have a sample of size n=12
from a normal distribution. Find the critical
value 𝑡∝ to the right that correspond to a 95%
2
confidence level.
Answer:
𝑡∝ = 2.201
2
3. For a t-distribution with 18 degrees of
freedom, find the values of t such that the
area to the right of t is 0.05.
Answer:
𝑡0.05 = 1.7341
4. For a t-distribution with 25 degrees of
freedom, find the values of t such that the
area between -t and t is 0.90.
Answer:
𝑡0.1 = ±1.7081
5. . For a t-distribution with 15 degrees of
freedom, find the values of t such that the
area between -t and t is 0.95.
Answer:
𝑡0.05 = ±2.1009
The graph of a distribution with df=15 is shown below.
a. If the shaded area on the right is 0.05, what is the area to left
of t?
b. What does t represent?
c. What is the value of t?
Percentiles
Percentiles divide the data set into 100 equal groups. Percentile
rank indicates the position of a certain value of a random
variable with respect to the other values.
For example, if a student get a raw score of 72 out of 100 items
and this corresponds to the 64𝑡ℎ percentile, this means that she
did better compared to the 64% of the students in her class.
Example 4:
Find the 90𝑡ℎ percentile using the 𝑡 distribution when
𝑛 = 20.
Example 5:
What is the area to the right of 𝑡 = 1.323 under the 𝑡
distribution with a 𝑑. 𝑓. = 21?
Example 6:
What is the area to the left of 𝑡 = −1.711 under the 𝑡
distribution with a 𝑑. 𝑓. = 24?
