Approximately what percentage of cases in a normal distribution fall within 2 standard deviations from the mean?

In a normal distribution, the empirical rule, also known as the 68-95-99.7 rule, is a critical concept used to understand how data is spread. According to this rule, approximately 68% of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean, about 95% falls within two standard deviations, and around 99.7% falls within three standard deviations.

Focusing on the case of two standard deviations from the mean, we find that this range captures a significant majority of the data points within a normal distribution. This high percentage illustrates how data tends to cluster around the mean in a bell-shaped distribution, highlighting the principle that most observations are expected to fall close to the average.

This understanding is crucial for interpreting how data behaves and for making inferences in statistical analysis.