The Excel NORM.DIST Function

Home » Excel-Built-In-Functions » Excel-Statistical-Functions » Excel-Norm.Dist-Function Search this site: Custom Search

Related Functions:  NORM.INV NORM.S.DIST

Normal Distribution

The Normal distribution is a continuous probability function that is given by the formula :

where μ is the mean of the distribution, σ² is the variance, and x is the independent variable for which you want to evaluate the function.

The Cumulative Normal Distribution function is given by the integral, from - infinity to x, of the Normal Probability Density function.

More information on the Normal Distribution is given on the Wikipedia Normal Distribution Page

Basic Description

The Excel NORM.DIST function calculates the Normal Probability Density Function or the Cumulative Normal Distribution Function for a supplied value of x, and a supplied distribution mean & standard deviation.

The Norm.Dist function is new in Excel 2010 and so is not available in earlier versions of Excel. However, the function is simply a new version of the Normdist function that is available in earlier versions of Excel.

The format of the Norm.Dist function is :

Where the function arguments are:

Note that a mean equal to 0 and a standard deviation of 1 defines the standard normal distribution.

Norm.Dist Function Examples

Example 1 - Normal Probability Density Function The chart on the right shows the the Normal Probability Density Function with a mean of 40 and a standard deviation of 20. If you want to calculate the value of this function at x = 50, this can be done using the Excel Norm.Dist function, as follows: =NORM.DIST( 50, 40, 20, FALSE ) This gives the result 0.017603266.	Normal Probability Density Function with mean = 40 & std. dev. = 20
Example 2 - Cumulative Normal Distribution Function The chart on the right shows the the Cumulative Normal Distribution Function with a mean of 1 and a standard deviation of 0.3. If you want to calculate the value of this function at x = 0.8, this can be done using the Excel Norm.Dist function, as follows: =NORM.DIST( 0.8, 1, 0.3, TRUE ) This gives the result 0.252492538.	Cumulative Normal Distribution Function with mean = 1 & std. dev. = 0.3

Further information and examples of the Excel Norm.Dist function can be found on the Microsoft Office website.

Trouble Shooting

If you get an error from the Excel Norm.Dist function this is likely to be one of the following: