The empirical rule, also known as the 68-95-99.7 rule, this is a statistical principle that applies to normal distributions
The empirical rule states that in a normal distribution:
- Approximately 68% of the data points fall within one standard deviation (σ) of the mean (µ)
- Approximately 95% of the data points fall within two standard deviations (2σ) of the mean
- Approximately 99.7% of the data points fall within three standard deviations (3σ) of the mean
Note:
Standard deviation (σ or SD): This measures data is spread out around mean in a normal distribution
Mean (µ): This represents the average value of all the data points in the distribution
This is an approximation and only applies to normal distributions without complex calculations
