In: Statistics and Probability
What does the empirical rule tell us about the spread of normal populations?
The empirical rule is the statistical rule stating that for a
normal distribution, almost all data will fall within three
standard deviations of the mean. Broken down, the empirical rule
shows that 68% will fall within the first standard deviation, 95%
within the first two standard deviations, and 99.7% will fall
within the first three standard deviations of the distribution's
average.
For this reason, it is often even called the 68-95-99.7 rule. This
can be seen in the below figure :