Gaussian distribution

is: a smooth curve (or the function describing such a curve) with the property that in a wide range of practical situations it represents the shape taken by the histogram of a large number of measurements of some quantity as the measurement intervals are made smaller and smaller. [P1.2]

is also known: as a normal distribution. Measurements with histograms that approach Gaussian distributions are said to be normally distributed. [P1.2]

mathematically can be described: by an equation of the form where is the mean of the distribution and is the standard deviation of the distribution. (The mean and the standard deviation of a set of normally distributed measurements provide estimates of these two quantities.) [P1.2]