Box Plot,

skewness,
kurtosis

Dr. Hina Dutt

hina.dutt@seecs.edu.pk
SEECS-NUST
5 Number
Summary
Minimum
value
Maximum
value

Median

Lower
Quartile
Upper
Quartile
Box Plot

• A box plot is a graph of the five number

summary. The central box spans the quartiles.
A line within the box marks the median. Lines
extending above and below the box mark the
smallest and the largest observations (i.e., the
range). Outlying samples may be additionally
plotted outside the range.
Box Plot
Box Plot
25% 25%
25% 25%

25% 25%
25% 25%

50% 50%
How to Construct Box Plot

Find the 5-number summary.

Draw and label a scale of equal intervals. Place dots above

the 5 numbers

Put a box around Q1 and Q3.

Draw a vertical line through the median.

Draw “whiskers” from the minimum to Q1 and maximum to

Q3.
Example 1; Box Plot
The wheat production (in kgs) of 20 acres is given as: 1120 1240 1320 1040 1080 1200
1440 1360 1680 1730 1785 1342 1960 1880 1755 1720 1600 1470 1750 1885. Construct a
box plot for the data.

The values are arranged in the ascending order of magnitude as:

1040 1080 1120 1200 1240 1320 1342 1360 1440 1470 1600 1680 1720 1730 1750 1755 1785 1880
1885 1960
Min value= 1040, Max value= 1960, 𝑄1 = 1260, Median= 1535, 𝑄3 = 1753.5
Example 2; (Box Plot)
Construct the box plot for the distribution of the marks given below.

Marks 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99

No. of 8 87 190 304 211 85 20
students

5-Number Summary: 𝑀𝑖𝑛 = 30, 𝑀𝑎𝑥 = 99, 𝑄1 = 56, 𝑄3 = 74, 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 65

Comparison of Box Plots of Two Data Sets

• A: Min = 50
Q1 = 65
Med = 70
Q3 = 80
Max = 100
• B: Min = 40
Q1 = 60
Med = 70
Q3 = 85
Max = 100
Box Plot Vs Histogram
Exercise 1
Match each histogram with its box
plot.
Mean Moments

1
Ungrouped Data: 𝑚𝑟 = σ 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥ҧ 𝑟 , 𝑟 = 1, 2,3, …
𝑛

1
Grouped Data: 𝑚𝑟 = σ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥ҧ 𝑟 , 𝑟 = 1, 2,3, …
𝑛
Skewness
Skewness is a measure of symmetry, or more precisely, the lack
of symmetry. A distribution, or data set, is symmetric if it looks
the same to the left and right of the center point.

Negatively-Skewed Symmetric Positively-Skewed

Mode>Median>Mean Mean=Median=Mode Mean>Median>Mode

Measures of Skewness
𝑚3
𝑏1 = 3
𝑚2 2

➢ 𝑏1 = 0 the distribution is symmetrical

➢ 𝑏1 < 0 the distribution is Negatively Skewed
➢ 𝑏1 > 0 the distribution is Positively Skewed
Kurtosis
Kurtosis characterizes the relative peakedness or flatness of
a distribution compared to the normal distribution

Lepto-kurtic
Meso-kurtic Platy-kurtic
Measures of Kurtosis
𝑚4
𝑏2 =
𝑚2 2

➢𝑏2 = 3 the distribution is meso-kurtic or normal

➢𝑏2 < 3 the distribution is platy-kurtic
➢𝑏2 > 3 the distribution is Lepto-kurtic
Exercise 2
Calculate measures of skewness and kurtosis for the following frequency distribution.

Ages 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54

(years)
No. of 29 176 208 173 82 40 15 3
Men