bell curve

The typically symmetrical curve of a normal distribution, resembling the profile of a bell. Also called bell-shaped curve, normal curve.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bell′ curve`

a frequency distribution in statistics that resembles the outline of a bell when plotted on a graph. Also called bell-shaped curve.

bell curve

graph showing the distribution of a set of test scores where the average grade was a C

bell curve

A symmetrical bell-shaped curve that represents the typical distribution and frequency of the values of a set of random data. It slopes downward from a point in the middle corresponding to the mean.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in periodicals archive

In it the dean asked his professors to use a bell curve method for designing exams, which estimates that five per cent of students would get As, 15pc would get Bs, 60p would get Cs, 15pc would Ds and 5pc would get Fs.

University memo withdrawn after students protest

For many years I've used the analogy of the Bell curve to describe the potential threats for which a student should be training.

Over-training problems

Bivariate is not a Bavarian pastry, and Chi-square is not a fancy herbal tea, but you don't need a degree in statistics to understand bell curve distributions.

The Bell Curve

Well, let's start on the less intense end of the bell curve. Most Americans don't carry guns at all and manage not to get killed.

Spare ammo: how many rounds should a pistol-packer pack? It's a contentious debate

So has been the annual exercise of pinning people on the bell curve for appraisal.

Employees as Customers

If one plotted out how many individual instances there were of each possible score, the shape would come out looking like a bell, which is why normal distribution is called a bell curve. A standard deviation calculates where on that normal curve one would expect a given score to fall.

Distribution of scores around the mean and the purpose of z-scores

The third edition adds sections on the bell curve and the van der Pol nonlinear equation.

Differential Equations With Applications and Historical Notes, 3rd Edition

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