Dimitris Charalampidis charalampidisdimitris.

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Box Whisker Diagram

Concept of a box whisker plot

A box whisker plot (also known as boxplot) is a way of visualizing a dataset’s certain
characteristics.
More precisely, through it one can directly see the set’s:

• Minimum value min

• Maximum value max
• Lower quartile Q1

• Upper Quartile Q3

• Median Med
Having these values, it is evident that through the boxplot one can easily also determine the
values of:

• Range R = max − min

• Interquartile range IQR = Q3 − Q1

So how will a boxplot look like and how can we draw it?
Drawing a box whisker plot is a quite easy process as long as you know the previously
mentioned characteristics of the dataset you are working with.
Then, all you need is simply a line of numbers and a pen.
Example

min Q1 Med Q3 max

Dimitris Charalampidis charalampidisdimitris.com Box Whisker Plot

Outliers
Sometimes, a set contains some values that are considered significantly far enough from the
rest of the set’s values. The presence of these values can often lead to misinterpretations
regarding the way the set behaves. Therefore, it is strongly needed not only to identify these
values but to be able to demonstrate them in a diagram.
Regarding their calculation we can use the following rules:

A set’s value is considered to be an outlier if it is either  Q3 + 1.5  IQR or

 Q1 − 1.5  IQR

A box plot can be used to present the outliers as dots

The dots indicate the

min Q1 Med Q3 max presence of outliers

Distribution of the set’s values

One extra information we can get from a boxplot is regarding the way the set’s values are
distributed. If you get a closer look in the way a boxplot is constructed, you will notice that the
range is divided into 4 smaller (not necessarily equal) segments.
In each one of these segments we can find the 25% of the dataset’s size.

25% 25% min − Q1 : 25% of size

25% 25%

Q1 − Med : 25% of size

Med − Q3 : 25% of size

Q3 − max : 25% of size

Dimitris Charalampidis charalampidisdimitris.com Box Whisker Plot

Calculating the mean of a set using information taken from the boxplot
As we learned in this presentation’s first slide, through a box and whisker diagram we can only
see directly the values of min, lower quartile, median, upper quartile and max and through
them we can also calculate the values of range and interquartile range.
There will be some exercises thought, in which we will be given a boxplot and we will be asked
to calculate the set’s arithmetic mean.
To do that we will need to think of the previous property we mentioned about the way the
values are distributed and using that, create a table of grouped data.
Then by calculating the mid-interval values we would proceed normally in finding the set’s
arithmetic mean

Example
In the given box whisker diagram data taken from a sample of
60 students regarding their grades are demonstrated.
Calculate the arithmetic mean of the sample’s grades
27 62 70 87 94
Solution

Intervals Mid-interval values Frequency

27 – 62 44.5 15
62 – 70 66 15
70 – 87 78.5 15
87 - 94 90.5 15

25
 60 = 15
100

mean =
( 44.5 15) + ( 66 15) + ( 78.5 15) + ( 90.5 15 ) = 69.875
60

You can also remember that the mean will be

equal to the average of the mid-interval values

44.5 + 66 + 78.5 + 90.5

= 69.875
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