Box Plots

A box plot, also known as a whisker plot, is a graphical representation of a dataset that displays its minimum, first quartile (Q1), median, third quartile (Q3), and maximum.

The median is the middle value of a dataset when it is ordered from least to greatest. It divides the dataset into two equal halves.

The upper quartile (Q3) is the median of the upper half of the dataset, which includes all values above the median.

The lower quartile (Q1) is the median of the lower half of the dataset, which includes all values below the median.

The interquartile range (IQR) is the difference between the upper quartile (Q3) and the lower quartile (Q1). It measures the spread of the middle 50% of the data.

IQR = Q3 - Q1.

A box plot visually represents the distribution of a dataset, highlighting its central tendency, variability, and potential outliers.

The whiskers in a box plot extend from the quartiles to the minimum and maximum values, showing the range of the data.

If a box plot is skewed, it indicates that the data is not symmetrically distributed, with a longer tail on one side.

Outliers in a box plot are typically represented as individual points that fall outside the whiskers.