The Gaussian Distribution

So let's go straight to looking at a Gaussian distribution, and then we'll talk about what it is and how it relates to self-driving cars.

You might recognize this shape; it's oftentimes called a bell-shaped curve. Notice that the y-axis says "probability density function" just like the uniform continuous distribution.

The x-axis currently says "x-value"; however, the x-axis could take on any continuous variable like temperature, height, or velocity.

Gaussian Equation

While this graph might look difficult to draw, there is actually an equation that maps the x variable to the y variable. Here is the probability density function for the Gaussian distribution:

\LARGE f(x) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi\sigma{^2}}}e^{\frac{-(x-\mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}}

This equation might look a bit intimidating, so let's break it down in the next part of the lesson.