View Full Version : Normal Distribution
randa177
Sep15-10, 11:26 PM
I have a set of data that I used to create a histogram, and would like to fit it with a Gauss shape...I used the regular equation for a normal distribution, using the mean value and the standard deviation of my data, but the Gauss shape doesn't seem to be really fitting my data... I might be doing something wrong... I am attaching it here...
Thanks!
CRGreathouse
Sep15-10, 11:35 PM
Yeah, the data doesn't look normal. Maybe it's a bimodal distribution of some sort?
randa177
Sep15-10, 11:59 PM
actually when I use the same of data on an online program I get better results...
These are the numbers I am using:
-2.1
-1.8
-1.6
-1.4
-1.2
-1.1
-1
-0.9
-0.8
-0.7
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
1.8
Do you know what the problem might be?
PS: Try putting these numbers here: http://azzalini.stat.unipd.it/SN/sn-fit.html
It gives a reasonable solution...
Why isn't giving me similar solution? Any idea?
statdad
Sep16-10, 08:44 AM
I agree with CrGreatHouse - your data shouldn't be considered to be normally distributed.
More importantly, if the data in your final post is your entire data set, the sample size is far too small to get a reliable idea of shape of the underlying distribution. A different type of graph (boxplot perhaps) would be a far better choice.
randa177
Sep16-10, 11:20 PM
What if I use a skew normal distribution... do you think that might fit the data better?
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