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Box Plots

Revise Box Plots in Statistics for GCSE Mathematics with 18 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This is a high-frequency exam topic, so students should expect to explain it clearly under timed conditions.

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The Five-Number Summary

Introduction 2

Key Facts About Box Plots

Key Facts 3

Anatomy of a Box Plot

Diagram 4

Creating Box Plots

Deep Dive 5

Drawing the Box Plot

Diagram 6

Interpreting Box Plots

Deep Dive 7

Comparing Two Distributions

Diagram 8

Exam Tips for Box Plots

Exam Tips 9

Special Cases and Outliers

Deep Dive 10

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Exam Tips

Sample Flashcards

What is a box plot?

A box plot (or box-and-whisker diagram) is a visual display of the five-number summary of a dataset: minimum, Q1, median, Q3, and maximum. It shows the distribution and spread of data in a compact form.

What is the five-number summary?

The five-number summary consists of: 1. Minimum (smallest value) 2. Q1 (lower quartile) 3. Median (middle value) 4. Q3 (upper quartile) 5. Maximum (largest value)

Sample Questions

On a box plot, what does the box (the rectangle) represent?

A. The interquartile range — the spread of the middle 50% of the data
B. The full range of the data from minimum to maximum
C. The top 25% of the data only
D. The median value of the data

1 markfoundation

Two athletics clubs record the 100m sprint times (in seconds) for their members. The five-number summaries are shown below. Club A: Min = 11.2, Q1 = 12.4, Median = 13.1, Q3 = 14.2, Max = 16.5 Club B: Min = 12.0, Q1 = 13.5, Median = 14.8, Q3 = 16.1, Max = 17.3 Compare the distributions of sprint times for the two clubs. You must use the data to support your answer. (3 marks)

3 marksstandard

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