Summary of the Distribution of Numerical Variables is a part of the VCE Further Maths topic Data Analysis and subtopic Investigating Data Distributions. This post looks at a summary of the distributions of numerical variables including:
- the five-number summary and boxplots, including IQR and outliers
- the sample mean and standard deviation and their use in comparing data distributions in terms of centre and spread
- the use of the distribution of one or more numerical variables to answer statistical questions
Boxplots and the Five-Number Summary
A box and whisker plot identifies five important statistics: the lowest value, the first quartile, the mean, the upper quartile and the highest value. These are often known as the five-number summary. This video will show you how to construct parallel box-and-whisker plots. It will also help you identify the five-number summary.
The following video explains how to construct and compare a set of data.
What is the Mean, Mode and Standard Deviation?
The mean is calculated by adding up the scores and dividing them by the total number of scores. The median is the middle score or value. The mode is the score that occurs the most across the set of scores.
Watch these two videos to learn all about the mean.
Part 1
Part 2
The videos below explain how to calculate the median from a data set.
Part 1
Part 2
The following video will explain how to find the mode in a data set.
What is the Standard Deviation
This next video provides a revision of standard deviation.
The Spread of Data
This next video looks the mean, median and mode and its relation to the spread of data.
Want to learn more? Check out more of our VCE Mathematics resources here!
