Chapter 2: Graphical Descriptions of Data Flashcards
distribution
a way to describe the structure of a particular data set or population
frequency distribution
a display of the values that occur in a data set and how often each value, or range of values, occurs

frequencies (f)
the numbers of data values in the categories of a frequency distribution
class
a category of data in a frequency distribution
class width
the difference between the lower limits or upper limits of two consecutive classes of a frequency distribution
class width = (highest value - lowest value) ÷ number of classes

lower class limit
- the smallest number that can belong to a particular class
- same number of decimal places as the largest number of decimal places in the data
upper class limit
- the largest number that can belong to a particular class
- same number of decimal places as the largest number of decimal places in the data
class boundary
- the value halfway between the upper limit of one class and the lower limit of the next class
class boundary = (Class 1 upper limit + Class 2 lower limit) ÷ 2
- After finding one class boundary, add or subtract the class width to find the next class boundary. The boundaries of a class are typically given in interval form: lower boundary–upper boundary
midpoint (class mark)
(lower limit + upper limit) ÷ 2
relative frequency
relative frequency = f ÷ n
sample size
n = Σfi
cumulative frequency
- the sum of the frequencies of a given class and all previous classes
- the cumulative frequency of the last class equals the sample size (Σfi)
pie chart
- shows how large each category is in relation to the whole
- round each angle measure to the nearest whole degree
- qualitative data

bar graph
- bars represent the amount of data in each category
- one axis displays categories, and the other displays frequencies
- qualitative data

Pareto chart
- bar graph in descending order
- typically used with nominal data
- qualitative data

side-by-side bar graph
- a bar graph that compares the same categories for different groups
- qualitative data

stacked bar graph
- bar graph that compares the same categories for different groups and shows category totals
- qualitative data

histogram
- a bar graph of a frequency distribution of quantitative data
- horizontal axis is a number line
- quantitative data

relative frequency histogram
- a histogram in which the heights of the bars represent the relative frequencies of each class rather than simply the frequencies
- quantitative data

frequency polygon
- visual display of the frequency of each class of quantitative data that uses straight lines to connect points plotted above the class midpoints
- quantitative data

ogive
- shows the cumulative frequency of each class, created by adding a 0 for the first data point and joining the points together with line segments
- quantitative data

stem-and-leaf plot
- retains the original data
- the leaves are the last significant digit in each data value and the stems are the remaining digits
- requires a key
- quantitative data

dot plot
- displays the data without grouping; only data that are exactly the same appear together
- retains the original data by plotting a dot above each data value on a number line
- quantitative data

line graph
uses straight lines to connect points plotted at the value of each measurement above the time it was taken







