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Chapter 1 Summary - Displaying and Describing Data Distributions

The document discusses different types of data and how to display and describe distributions of data. It covers categorical data, which can be nominal or ordinal, and numerical data, which can be discrete or continuous. Methods for displaying categorical data include frequency tables, bar charts, and segmented bar charts. Numerical data can be displayed using grouped frequency tables and histograms. Descriptions of numerical data distributions examine attributes such as peaks, shape, outliers, center, and spread. The document also introduces log scales for displaying data varying over a wide range.

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24 views3 pages

Chapter 1 Summary - Displaying and Describing Data Distributions

The document discusses different types of data and how to display and describe distributions of data. It covers categorical data, which can be nominal or ordinal, and numerical data, which can be discrete or continuous. Methods for displaying categorical data include frequency tables, bar charts, and segmented bar charts. Numerical data can be displayed using grouped frequency tables and histograms. Descriptions of numerical data distributions examine attributes such as peaks, shape, outliers, center, and spread. The document also introduces log scales for displaying data varying over a wide range.

Uploaded by

shinymaterials
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 1 – Displaying and describing data

distributions
1A - Types of Data

Categorical Data
 Nominal – this data is grouped only (e.g. eye colour as blue, green or brown)
 Ordinal – this data is grouped and the categories are ordered (e.g. shoe size as 6,7 or 8)
Numerical Data
 Discrete – this data can be counted (e.g. the number of pages in a book)
 Continuous – this data can be measured (e.g. the length of your foot)

1B - Displaying and Describing Categorical Data


 Frequency table – the data for each category can be recorded as number or percentage
frequency(count )
o percentage frequency= ×100
total count

 Bar chart
o frequency or percentage frequency on the vertical axis
o categories on the horizontal axis
 gaps between bars

 Segmented bar chart


o bars are stack on top of one another to produce a single bar
o used to represent more than one set of data
o a legend is used to identify the different categories

Frequency Table Bar Chart Segmented Bar Chart

 Mode (or modal category) – the most frequently occurring value or category
1C - Displaying and Describing Numerical Data
Displaying numerical data
 Grouped frequency table
o group values into equal sized intervals
o try to use 5-15 intervals that don’t overlap

 Histogram – Frequency (number or percentage) on the vertical axis, and intervals on the horizontal
axis (labelled as the start of each interval).
o By hand from a grouped frequency table
o By calculator from raw data

Grouped Frequency Table Histogram

Describing numerical data


 Number of peaks – a single peak about which the values are spread, or two peaks because the data
comes from two different populations (bimodal).
 Shape – Symmetric, positively skewed or negatively skewed
 Outliers – values that stand out from the main data (well above or well below the distribution)
 Centre – The median is the middle value
 Spread – The range is the maximum value minus the minimum value

Symmetric distribution Bimodal distribution Outliers

Positively Skewed Negatively Skewed Median


1D - Using a log scale to display data
 Log scales are used when the data values vary over a significant range

Value, x Value in exponential form, x = 10n Value in log form, n = log(x)


0.1 10-1 -1
1 100 0
10 101 1
100 102 2
1000 103 3
10,000 104 4
100,000 105 5

 Use the CAS calculator to convert between exponential form and log form when n is not a whole
number by simply typing the expression in.
o x = 10n (e.g. if n = 2.5, x = 102.5 = 316.2)
o n = log(x) (e.g. if x = 316.2, n = log(316.2) = 2.5)

 Interpreting a log scale


o The minimum value has a log of -2, and 10-2 = 0.01
o The maximum value has a log of 5, and 105 = 100000

 The CAS calculator can be used to create a histogram using log values by first calculating the log of
the different values in Statistics.

Having completed Chapter 1, you should be able to:


 differentiate between categorical data and numerical data
 differentiate between nominal and ordinal categorical data
 differentiate between discrete and continuous numerical data
 interpret the information contained in a frequency table
 identify and interpret the mode
 construct a bar chart, segmented bar chart or histogram from a frequency table
 read and interpret a histogram with a log scale

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