Apparel Quality Management

Box and Whisker Plot

A box and whisker graph is used to
display a set of data
so that you can easily see where
most of the numbers are.

For example, suppose you were to catch and measure
the length of 13 fish in a lake:

12,13,5,8,9,20,16,14,14,6,9,12,12

A box and whisker plot is based on medians. The first step
is to rewrite the data in order, from smallest length to
largest:

5,6,8,9,9,12,12,12,13,14,14,16,20


Now find the median of all the numbers. Notice that since
there are 13 numbers, the middle one will be
the seventh number:

5,6,8,9,9,12,12,12,13,14,14,16,20



This must be the median (middle number) because there are
six numbers on each side.



MEDIAN
The next step is to find the lower median. This is the middle
of the lower six numbers. The exact centre is half-way
between 8 and 9 ... which would be 8.5.
Now find the upper median. This is the middle of the upper
six numbers. The exact centre is half-way between 14 and 14
... which must be 14.

5,6,8,9,9,12,12,12,13,14,14,16,20

LOWER MEDIAN
8.5
MEDIAN
UPPER MEDIAN
14
Now you are ready to construct the actual box &
whisker graph. First you will need to draw
an ordinary number line that extends far enough in
both directions to include all the numbers in your
data:
First, locate the main median 12 using a vertical line
just above your number line:



Now locate the lower median 8.5 and the upper
median 14 with similar vertical lines:
Next, draw a box using the lower and upper median lines as
endpoints:



Finally, the whiskers extend out to the data's smallest
number 5 and largest number 20:



This is a box & whisker plot!
Well, it's obvious from the graph that the lengths of the fish were
as small as 5 cm, and as long as 20 cm. This gives you the range of
the data ...15.
You also know the median, or middle value was 12 cm.
Since the medians (three of them) represent the middle points,
they split the data into four equal parts.

In other words
one quarter of the data numbers are less than 8.5
one quarter of the data numbers are between 8.5 and 12
one quarter of the data numbers are between 12 and 14
one quarter of the data numbers are greater than 14

The shading below, as an example, shows the quarter of
the numbers that are between 12 and 14:



Here is a picture of the quarter of the data that is
between 8.5 and 12. Notice that the data is more spread
out here:
This picture is showing where half the data
numbers are. Half of all the fish caught had a
length between 8.5 and 14 centimetres:
"Three quarters of the data is below 14."
THANK YOU
Presented by:
Apoorva Dabur
Saurabh Singh