For the most current and official copy, check QMiS.
E. Some properties of the normal distribution curve that are evident by
inspection of the graph and mathematical function above go far in
explaining the properties of measurements in the laboratory:
1. In the absence of determinate errors, the measurement with the
most probable value will be the true value, μ.
2. Errors (i.e., x-μ), as defined previously, are distributed symmetrically
on either side of the true value, μ; errors greater than the mean are
equally as likely as errors below the mean.
3. Large errors are less likely to occur than small errors.
4. The curve never reaches the y-axis but approaches it asymptotically:
there is a finite probability of a measurement having any value.
5. The probability of a measurement being the true value increases as
the standard deviation decreases.
2.5. Confidence Intervals
A. The confidence interval of a measurement or set of measurements is
the range of values that the measurement may take with a stated level
of uncertainty. Although confidence intervals may be defined for any
probability distribution function, the normal distribution function
illustrates the concept well.
B. Approximately 68% of the area under the normal distribution curve is
included within ±1 standard deviation of the mean. This implies that, for
a series of replicate measurements, 68% will fall within ±1 standard
deviation of the true mean. Likewise, 95% of the area under the normal
distribution curve is found within about ± 2σ (to be precise, 1.96 σ), and
approximately 99.7% of the area of the curve is included within a range
of the mean ±3σ. A 95% confidence interval for a series of
measurements, therefore, is that which includes the mean ± 2σ. An
example of the application of confidence limits is in the preparation of
control charts, discussed in Section 6 below.
2.6. Populations and Samples: Student’s t Distribution
A. In the above discussion, we are using the true standard deviation, σ
(i.e., the population standard deviation). In most real-life situations, we
do not know the true value of σ. In the ORS laboratory, we are generally
working with a small sample which is assumed to be representative of
the population of interest (for example, a batch of tablets, a tanker of
milk). In this case, we can only calculate the sample standard deviation,
s, from a series of measurements. In this case, s is an estimate of σ,