Monthly weight change has a mean loss of 5 pounds and a standard deviation of 2 pounds. Someone gains 3 pounds, recorded as a loss of -3. Where does that sit?

1. The mean of this distribution is a loss of 5 pounds. 2. The recorded value is a loss of -3 pounds, which is a gain of 3. 3. The gap from the mean is -3 minus 5, which is -8 pounds. 4. Divide that gap by the standard deviation of 2 pounds. 5. That gives -8 divided by 2, which is -4. 6. The negative sign places the value below the mean, so it is four standard deviations down. 7. Reading it as four above ignores the sign of the gap. 8. Reading it as two forgets to include the mean and just divides the 3 or the 5 by 2. _Source: OpenStax High School Statistics (CC BY 4.0), section 6.1 The Standard Normal Distribution_