What is a z-score?
A z-score (also called a standard score, z-value, or normal score) measures how many standard deviations a data point lies above or below the population mean. The formula is z = (x - μ) / σ, where x is the raw score, μ is the population mean, and σ is the population standard deviation.
Interpreting z-scores enables quick comparisons across different normal distributions, conversion of raw scores to probabilities, and evaluation of how extreme an observation is relative to the population.