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Approximations to the normal distribution function*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Tim Morland
Tim Morland*
Affiliation:
St Paul’s School, Lonsdale Road, Barnes, London SW13 9JT, e-mail: tcim@stpauls.richmond.sch.uk
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Extract

The tide of technological advancement nearly swept away this article. I have had to rewrite this first section in the light of new developments, which I suspected might beat me to publication. For several years I have wondered why ‘pocket’ calculators, however well specified in other respects, have not had the pre-programmed ability to give values of the cumulative distribution function of a standard normal variable, commonly written as Φ (x), and its inverse. The A level mathematics student must be a prime target in the marketing of calculators and there can’t be many who don’t have to thumb through statistical tables a few hundred times in the course of their studies. The very latest generation of machines do include these functions, but it will, I suspect, be quite a few years before everyone is so well equipped.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 82 , Issue 495 , November 1998 , pp. 431 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1998

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Footnotes

*

This article first appeared in Simplex, a magazine produced in St Paul’s School.

References

1. Mathematics in Education and Industry Project, Students’ handbook (1994).Google Scholar
2. Casio, fx – 7000G Owner’s manual.Google Scholar
3. Cooke, D., Craven, A. H. and Clarke, G. M., Basic computational statistics, Edward Arnold (1982).Google Scholar
4. Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I., Handbook of mathematical functions, Dover, New York (1972).Google Scholar