What characteristic describes the distribution of a normal variable?

The distribution of a normal variable is characterized as symmetric. This means that the left side of the distribution mirrors the right side when it is graphed, creating a bell-shaped curve. In a symmetric distribution, the mean, median, and mode are all equal and located at the center of the distribution. This property is critical in statistics because it simplifies the analysis and interpretation of data, allowing for the application of various statistical methods and theorems that are based on the normal distribution.

In contrast, a skewed distribution would reflect an asymmetrical shape where one tail is longer than the other, indicating that the data is not evenly distributed around the center. A uniform distribution spreads out evenly across its range, with all outcomes being equally likely, which differs significantly from the concentration of probabilities that appears in a normal distribution. A bimodal distribution has two distinct peaks, indicating that the data can be divided into two different groups or modes, which again is fundamentally different from the single-peaked nature of a normal distribution.