[Math] Integral of normal distribution curve

integrationnormal distribution

I am having hoping to use the integral of the normal distribution curve to find the probability of having a mean of $0.30$ or greater, i.e. one tailed distribution. With a sample standard deviation of $1.40$, with $180$ data points, and an assumed population mean equal to $0.0$ (Null hypothesis). I know that the probability should be $0.202$, but as I am writing a math essay it is useful to show how the calculation is done and not only refer to a GDC.

I have previously done the calculation for a z-test and have gotten:
$$Z= \frac{0.30-0}{1.40/\sqrt{178}}= 2.78$$
The formula for normal distribution is:
$$P(x)=\frac{1}{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi}}\exp\left(-\frac{(x-\mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}\right)$$
And I am looking for the integral between $0.30$ and $\infty$.

I am grateful for help!

Best Answer

$$\int_{0.30}^{\infty}P(x)\,dx=\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}P(x)\,dx-\int_{-\infty}^{0.30}P(x)\,dx$$ The first integral is equal to $1$ since $P(x)$ is a probability density function. The second one is not possible to evaluate with elementary functions.

However using the function $$\operatorname{erf}(x)=\frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_0^x\exp(-t^2)\,dt,$$ the cummulative normal density function can be written as $$\frac{1}{\sigma\sqrt{2\pi}}\int_{-\infty}^x\exp\left(-\frac{(t-\mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}\right)\,dt=\frac12\left(1+\operatorname{erf}\left(\frac{x-\mu}{\sigma\sqrt{2}}\right)\right).$$

This makes \begin{align} \int_{0.30}^{\infty}P(x)\,dx&=1-\frac12\left(1+\operatorname{erf}\left(\frac{0.30}{1.40\cdot\sqrt{2}}\right)\right)\\ &=\frac12-\frac12\operatorname{erf}\left(\frac{0.30}{1.40\cdot\sqrt{2}}\right).\end{align}

So it is easiest to just use a look-up table for the standard normal distribution for the cumulative density function of $2.78$ which gives $0.9973$ so the desired integral is $1-0.9973=0.0027$.

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