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Find a normal percentile from a probability

Find the cut-off score for the top 5% of a normal distribution using its mean and standard deviation.

4 steps

Test scores follow a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation . What score marks the top ?

You know the probability and want the score : this is an inverse normal calculation, also called finding a percentile. Area is the share to the left of the cut-off. For the top , enter .

Find the cut-off score

Below each step is the screen you should see after pressing.

Next to each step is the screen you should see after pressing.

  1. Step 1

    Open the mode menu and tap Distribution.
    Press:
  2. Step 2

    Tap the type name at the top of the screen to open the Select Type sheet.
    Screen after step 2
  3. Step 3

    Tap Inverse Normal. The Area box is selected. On a fresh visit it contains , so the screen shows xInv ; this is not an error.
    Screen after step 3
  4. Step 4

    Enter for Area and press the equals key. Enter for and press the equals key, then enter for . The answer changes as you type; read it after all three values are entered. The screen shows xInv , without pressing the equals key after .
    Press:
    Screen after step 4

Read and check the result

The cut-off is about : of scores lie below it and above it. xInv is a score, not a probability. The curve on the screen shades the area to the left of the marked point.

As a check, the standard normal value for an area of is about . Convert it to a score using the mean and standard deviation:

The cut-off is above the mean, as you would expect for the top .

If your result is different

  • The score is below the mean: check Area. Entering finds the bottom , giving about for this distribution. For the top , use .
  • The screen shows infinity: Area gives , and Area gives . These are not errors; enter for this example.
  • The Area box is dashed and the screen shows Argument ERROR: enter a decimal between and , not a percentage such as . Tap Area, press AC once to empty it, then enter .
  • The box is dashed and the screen shows Argument ERROR: the standard deviation must be positive. Tap , press AC once, then enter .

In the steps above, typing replaces the value of the box the equals key just selected. If you tap a box instead, press AC once to empty it before typing. A second AC resets every box of this type to its defaults, so check all three values if you do that.

The fx-991EX Inverse Normal screen with Area = 0.95, mean 100, standard deviation 15 and xInv = 124.6728044.

Find a normal percentile on your fx-991EX calculator

Enter Area = 0.95, mean 100 and standard deviation 15 to find the cut-off for the top 5%: about 124.67.