
Statistics for Quality 59
2.4.2 Numerical Methods for Describing Populations
When histograms are prepared to study the distributions of populations, several
different types of distributions are encountered� A few of these types are shown
in Figure 2�6� Of all the different types of distributions, the one that is most
commonly encountered has a symmetrical, bell shape and is called the “normal
distribution�” Many measurements, such as length, weight, and strength, are
known to follow this distribution� When the distribution of a population has
this shape, just two measures—the average and the standard deviation of the
distribution—are adequa