Five Number Summary and Measures of Spread

Five Number Summary

  • Definition: A list of five key statistics that summarize a set of data. These values divide the data into four equal sections called quartiles.
  • Components:
    • X_{min}: Minimum value
    • Q_1: Lower Quartile
    • Q_2: Median
    • Q_3: Upper Quartile
    • X_{max}: Maximum value

Example: Finding the Five Number Summary

  • Data set: 3, 2, 8, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7, 6
    1. List the data in ascending order: 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8
    2. Find the median (Q2): Median = 5
    3. Find Q1 (the median of the lower section):
      • Lower section: 1, 2, 3, 3
      • Q_1 = (2 + 3) / 2 = 2.5
    4. Find Q3 (the median of the upper section):
      • Upper section: 6, 6, 7, 8
      • Q_3 = (6 + 7) / 2 = 6.5

Measures of Spread

  • Definition: Measures of spread describe how far data values are spread out from the center or from each other.

Minimum and Maximum Values

  • Minimum Value: X_{min} = 1
  • Maximum Value: X_{max} = 8

Range

  • Definition: The range is a measure of how spread out a data set is.
  • Formula: Range = X{max} - X{min}

Interquartile Range (IQR)

  • Definition: The IQR measures the spread of the middle 50% of the data.
  • Advantage: It is not affected by outliers, making it a more reliable measure of spread.
  • Formula: IQR = Q3 - Q1

Example: Finding the Range and IQR

  • Data set: 2.1, 3.5, 3.9, 4.0, 4.7, 4.8, 5.2
  • Five Number Summary:
    • X_{min} = 2.1
    • Q_1 = 3.5
    • Median = 4.0
    • Q_3 = 4.8
    • X_{max} = 5.2
  • Range Calculation:
    • Range = X{max} - X{min} = 5.2 - 2.1 = 3.1
  • IQR Calculation:
    • IQR = Q3 - Q1 = 4.8 - 3.5 = 1.3

Stem and Leaf Plot Example

  • Key: 2 | 3 = 23
  • Plot:
    • 0 | 9
    • 1 | 0 1 1 2 4 5 8 9
    • 2 | 1 3 3 3 7 9
    • 3 | 0 0 1 2 2