In probability theory, calculation of the sum of normally distributed random variables is an instance of the arithmetic of random variables, which can be quite complex based on the probability distributions of the random variables involved and their relationships. In probability theory, calculation of the sum of normally distributed random variables is an instance of the arithmetic of random variables, which can be quite complex based on the probability distributions of the random variables involved and their relationships. This is not to be confused with the sum of normal distributions which forms a mixture distribution. If X and Y are independent random variables that are normally distributed (and therefore also jointly so), then their sum is also normally distributed. i.e., if