APEX AP Stats Lesson 1.2.12 Quiz Notes: Identifying Shapes of Distributions Studyguide

What defines a symmetric distribution?

A distribution is symmetric when cut in half by a vertical line, resulting in mirror images of each other.

What is the term for distributions that are not exactly symmetrical?

They are referred to as approximately symmetric.

What are unimodal and multimodal distributions?

Unimodal distributions have one peak, while multimodal distributions have multiple peaks.

What does a mound-shaped distribution indicate about skewness?

A mound-shaped distribution is right-skewed if the tail is on the right side and left-skewed if the tail is on the left side.

What are gaps in a distribution?

Gaps occur when there is a significant number of values with no observations, indicating a break in the data distribution.

What are clusters in a distribution?

Clusters are groups of observations at similar values, forming densely populated regions.

How can you identify clusters in histograms or bar graphs?

Look for bars that are taller than the surrounding bars.

What are outliers in a distribution?

Outliers are isolated observations that lie far from the bulk of the distribution.

Describe a symmetric histogram with gaps.

A symmetric histogram can have gaps, such as between the values 1 and 23, with clusters at values 1, 12, and 23, and being unimodal with a mode at 12.

What characterizes an approximately symmetric and multimodal dot plot?

An approximately symmetric and multimodal dot plot has no clusters, with variations in the number of observations between values not being drastic.

What is a uniform and symmetric dot plot?

A uniform and symmetric dot plot has the same number of observations for every value, making it multimodal with every value equal to the mode.

What features does an approximately uniform and symmetric histogram have?

It has no clusters, gaps, or outliers, and is unimodal with a mode at value 49.

What does a left-skewed histogram indicate?

A left-skewed histogram has a tail on the left side and can be unimodal with one large gap and clusters at specific values.