This introduction covers The Five-Number Summary within Box Plots for GCSE Mathematics. Revise Box Plots in Statistics for GCSE Mathematics with 18 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 1 of 11 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📦 The Five-Number Summary
Imagine you're comparing the performance of two basketball teams and need to quickly see which has more consistent scoring. A box plot is like a visual summary that shows you the "box of performance" - where the middle 50% of scores lie, plus the whiskers that extend to show the full range. With just one glance, you can see which team is more consistent, which has higher typical scores, and whether there are any unusual outliers that might skew your analysis.
Practice questions for Box Plots
On a box plot, what does the box (the rectangle) represent?
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)