Final answer:
The area beyond a z-score of -1.73 is likely to be option C: 0.9573, as it is the only plausible option provided that fits the conceptual understanding of the normal distribution and the empirical rule.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks to find the area beyond a z-score equal to -1.73. To find this area on the normal distribution, one typically uses a z-table, which provides the area to the left of a given z-score. The provided reference information hints that a z-score of -1 signifies an area of about 68 percent (from the empirical rule), which would be equivalent to 0.16 (the complement of 0.84) on one side of the distribution, and a z-score of -2 would have a much smaller area to its left.
Given that the z-scores of -1 and -2 correspond to areas to their left of approximately 0.1587 and 0.0228, respectively, it can be inferred that a z-score of -1.73, which falls between -1 and -2, will have an area to the left more than 0.1587 but less than 0.0228. The exact value can be found by looking up -1.73 on the z-table, which typically isn't provided in the question. However, we know that the total area under the curve is 1, so subtracting the area to the left of the z-score from 1 will give us the area beyond it.
Without the exact figure from the z-table, we cannot determine the exact area to the left of the z-score of -1.73. However, examining the options provided, only option C, 0.9573, would be plausible for the area to the right (beyond) a z-score of -1.73 since it is close to 0.9772 which is the area to the left of a z-score of -2. This makes sense conceptually, as the empirical rule suggests that approximately 95% of the data falls within two standard deviations from the mean, leaving only 5% (0.05) in the tails. Half of that tail (0.025) on one side gives us a rough estimate of the area beyond the z-score of -2, and the area beyond -1.73 should be a little higher than that. Given this information, the correct option in the final answer is option C: 0.9573.