How to Become Famous

CHAPTER 3

Magic

You are probably familiar with a bell curve, depicting a “normal distribution” or a “Gaussian distribution.” Figure 3-1 is an example.

FIGURE 3-1

Example of a bell curve

Source: Normal distribution, March 13, 2010 via Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Courtesy of Geek3.

In a normal distribution, the mean, the median, and the mode are the same. Human height is normally distributed. The mean, or average, is at the top (in the United States, around five feet nine), and measurements are symmetrical around the mean. Birth weight is also normally distributed. Other examples of normal distributions in large populations include blood ...