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How-To: Box and Whiskers using
Technology
A Box and Whisker Plot is a visual way of showing median values
for a set of data. Quartiles are three numbers that divide a data set
into four equal parts. The lower quartile represents one quarter of
the data from the left and the upper quartile represents three
quarters of the data from the left. The five important numbers in a
box and whisker plot are the minimum and maximum values, the
lower and upper quartiles, and the median. These numbers make
up the Five Number Summary.
Example: Make a box and whisker plot for the number of points
scored by the high school basket ball team on each game this
season.
79 65 82 66 74 54 93 74 48 52 79 85 78 70 84 76
Follow the steps to prepare a box and whisker plot for this data using the Graphing
Calculator:
1. Turn the graphing calculator on by pressing the On key.
2. Press the
screen.
key, to bring up the following screen. Press enter to get the data entry
3. Enter the data one by one using the number keys and pressing Enter after each entry.
4. Once the data has been entered, you are ready to make your Box Plot. Turn on the
statistical graphing by pressing 2nd Y= to get the STAT PLOTS screen. Use arrows to
highlight Plot1. Press Enter.
**Make sure ON is highlighted and
Type has the Box Plot highlighted.
5. To see the Box Plot, we need to tell the calculator to do the statistical graphing, rather
than the more traditional (x, y) graphing. To do this, press ZOOM and use the down
arrow to choose
ZOOMSTAT.
6. Press Enter and you should get the Box Plot that you wanted.
7. Use the TRACE button and left/right arrows to get the 5
number summary.
Lower Quartile (Q1)
Median
Minimum Value (minX)
Upper Quartile (Q3)
Maximum Value (maxX)
Now You Try!
Example: Make a Box Plot for the following test scores in a given class.
96 76 80 89 95 98 75 78 82 94 72
Lower Quartile (Q1)
Median
Minimum Value (minX)
Upper Quartile (Q3)
Maximum Value (maxX)
Draw your Box Plot: Remember to label the axis.