Statistic question?

[Gigsaw]

Mrs. Smith's reading class can read an average of 175 words per minute with a standard deviation of 20 words per minute. The top 3% of the class is to receive a special award. What is the minimum number of words per minute a student would need to read in order to get the award? Assume the data is normally distributed.

[GameGeeks]

Gonna go with 213.

[Aku no Hikari]

Lol new members posting non-mecha- and non-anime-related threads in mecha.

Moved to misc.

[Cantelope]

This is a Z-score question. Read a really bad explanation of it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_normal_table or do something many students don't do (open your textbook)

If you look at the table, if you want to be in the top 3%, that means your Z-score must be equal to or greater than 97% of all the results. Apparently, this means a z-score of about 1.88. Now you just use the formula on the same page to convert from z-score back to normal, and you get: (Z*σ)+μ = (1.88*20 WPM)+(175 WPM) = 212.6 WPM

GameGeeks is teh winnar.

[CrimsonMoon]

Gahh, maths + statistics hate me. ._.

[Eris]

I think if the students do their own goddamn homework, they're sure to get that award.

[Immoral]

Don't forget to show your work.

[GameGeeks]

I think if the students do their own goddamn homework, they're sure to get that award.

There's that, but this question is oddly common on the net. I've seen it at least twice before on other forums.

[Explorer Oak]

... -.-" So your looking for a number? Hmm, how about 2.141592..

[Munchman]

Since there's already a topic for this kinda stuff , answer this:

A teacher is going to put this exact question on a test:
What is the chance of getting this question right ,assuming you guess it?
A)33% B)50% C)25% D)25%

Do your best...

[Cantelope]

What the hell, this is like Yahoo! Answers; I do someone's god damn homework and they don't even have the courtesy to give me any credit for it. RUINED MAH DAY