LESSON 35: Representing Data

“Without Mathematics, there is nothing you can do. Everything around

you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers. ”
– Shakuntala Devi

O.M. “ Statistics is one of the most powerful branches of mathematics. Its tools, theories
and formulae have applications in sport, medicine, political science, business, education
and biology just to name a few. This proves it is just as pervasive as mathematics itself, for
"…everything around you is numbers". The common thread running through the
application of statistics to these many fields is data. Therefore, this lesson will introduce
the concept of data, and discuss some of the methods used to represent it once collected.”

35.1 WHAT IS DATA?

Data – raw, unprocessed or unstructured facts e.g.

Name of student = Fred Dryer
Grade point average = 3.21

Information – is the result of data organised into a structure for example a table and
subsequently analysed and processed to derive meaning.

Name of Student Grade Point

Average(GPA)
Fred Dryer 3.21
Bonnie Raitt 2.75

Michael Jordan 2.89

A typical finding for the data in the table above is Average GPA
 35.2 TYPES OF DATA

Data can be separated into two main categories: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative data describes the non-numerical attributes or qualities of a thing, person or

study e.g. hair colour, ethnicity, country etc.

Quantitative data describes the numerical attributes or qualities of a thing, person or study
e.g. height, age, population of a country etc.

Quantitative data is further sub-categorized into discrete and continuous.

- Discrete data refers to data obtained by counting which therefore take
whole number values.

Example:
• Number of grade I in CSEC Mathematics: 8
• Number of goals scored by Manchester City in last 5 games:
3, 5, 2, 0, 4

- Continuous data refers to data obtained by measurement or calculation

which therefore take decimal number values.

Example:
• Weight of student: 120.5 lbs
• Height of seedlings in a garden: 18.2 cm, 20.3 cm, 17.1cm

Here is an example of statistics compiled about a game of football and the types of
quantitative data used.
Continuous Data
Discrete Data

Discrete Data
Continuous Data
35.3 DATA REPRESENTATION METHODS

Data is represented mainly using appropriate statistical diagrams such as:

Pie Chart

Bar Chart

Line Graph

Histogram
However, we will focus on two special types of statistical diagrams: stem-and-leaf
diagram and box-and-whisker plot

STEM-AND-LEAF DIAGRAM (STEMPLOT)

A stemplot is used to represent quantitative data that is split into stems (the largest digit)
and leaves (the smallest digits).

Example:

Construction:
1. Collect all numerical data
2. Select largest digit as stem and let smallest digits be the leaves
3. Set up a two-column table with labels: stem and leaf
4. Populate the table according to the number of stems and their associated
leaves.

STEMPLOT PROFILE

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES BEST USES

✓ Easy and quick to
construct
✓ Original data can be
easily reconstructed.
✓ Data is arranged
compactly
▪ Not suitable for Suitable for displaying a
representing data with small set of data with two
large numbers to three-digit values.
▪ Not much flexibility
in choice of stem.
▪ Class frequency is not
easy to read off.
BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOT

A box-and-whisker is a graphical method for displaying variation (i.e. degree of spread)

in a set of data.

Example:
5-point data summary

Construction:
1. Order the data (ascending or descending)
2. Collect a 5-point data summary:
- Minimum value
- Maximum value
- Upper quartile
- Lower quartile
- Median
3. (a) Create a vertical or horizontal number line using an appropriate scale and
values.

(b) Locate the 5-point data summary values on the number line.

4. (a) Draw a box whose length spans the distance between upper quartile and
lower quartile
(b) Draw two whiskers: one which extends to the minimum value and one
which extends to the maximum value
BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOT PROFILE

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES BEST USES

✓ It shows a 5-point ▪ Exact data values are Very good for
summary and spread not retained. representing data where
at a glance. ▪ Can be tedious to measures of spread will
✓ It gives an construct with a small be analyzed.
indication of data’s margin of error.
symmetry and ▪ Tends to emphasize
skewness. the ‘tails’ of a
✓ It handles extremely distribution which are
large sets of data the least certain
easily values in the set of
data.

TAKE-AWAYS
• Data are raw, unprocessed or unstructured facts. Information is the result of data
organised into a structure and subsequently analysed and processed.

• Data can be separated into two main categories: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative data describes the non-numerical attributes or qualities of a thing,

person or study

Quantitative data describes the numerical attributes or qualities of a thing, person

or study

Quantitative data is further sub-categorized into discrete and continuous.

- Discrete data refers to data obtained by counting which therefore take
whole number values.

- Continuous data refers to data obtained by measurement or calculation

which therefore take decimal number values.

• A stemplot is used to represent quantitative data that is split into stems (the largest
digit) and leaves (the smallest digits).

• A box-and-whisker is a graphical method for displaying variation (i.e. degree of

spread) in a set of data.

• Memorize the strengths, weaknesses and best uses of both the stemplot and the
box-and-whisker plots.