Skewness - Definition, Examples & Formula

1/23/24, 10:48 PM Skewness | Definition, Examples & Formula
Skewness | Definition, Examples

& Formula
Published on May 10, 2022 by Shaun Turney. Revised on November 10, 2023.
Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of a distribution. A

distribution is asymmetrical when its left and right side are not
mirror images.
A distribution can have right (or positive), left (or negative), or zero
skewness. A right-skewed distribution is longer on the right side of
its peak, and a left-skewed distribution is longer on the left side of
its peak:
You might want to calculate the skewness of a distribution to:
Describe the distribution of a variable alongside other

descriptive statistics
Determine if a variable is normally distributed. A normal
distribution has zero skew and is an assumption of many
statistical procedures.
 Table of contents
1. What is zero skew?

2. What is right skew (positive skew)?
3. What is left skew (negative skew)?
4. How to calculate skewness
https://www.scribbr.com/statistics/skewness/ 1/15
5. What to do if your data is skewed

6. Practice questions
7. Other interesting articles
8. Frequently asked questions about skewness
What is zero skew?

When a distribution has zero skew, it is symmetrical. Its left and
right sides are mirror images.
Normal distributions have zero skew, but they’re not the only
distributions with zero skew. Any symmetrical distribution, such as
a uniform distribution or some bimodal (two-peak) distributions,
will also have zero skew.
The easiest way to check if a variable has a skewed distribution is

to plot it in a histogram. For example, the weights of six-week-old
chicks are shown in the histogram below.
The distribution is approximately symmetrical, with the

observations distributed similarly on the left and right sides of its
peak. Therefore, the distribution has approximately zero skew.
In a distribution with zero skew, the mean and median are equal.
Zero skew: mean = median
For example, the mean chick weight is 261.3 g, and the median is
258 g. The mean and median are almost equal. They aren’t
perfectly equal because the sample distribution has a very small
skew.
Although a theoretical distribution (e.g., the z distribution) can have

zero skew, real data almost always have at least a bit of skew.
However, if a distribution is close to being symmetrical, it usually is
considered to have zero skew for practical purposes, such as
verifying model assumptions.
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What is right skew (positive skew)?

A right-skewed distribution is longer on the right side of its peak
than on its left. Right skew is also referred to as positive skew.
You can think of skewness in terms of tails. A tail is a long, tapering

end of a distribution. It indicates that there are observations at one
of the extreme ends of the distribution, but that they’re relatively
infrequent. A right-skewed distribution has a long tail on its right
side.
The number of sunspots observed per year, shown in the

histogram below, is an example of a right-skewed distribution. The
sunspots, which are dark, cooler areas on the surface of the sun,
were observed by astronomers between 1749 and 1983.
The distribution is right-skewed because it’s longer on the right

side of its peak. There is a long tail on the right, meaning that every
few decades there is a year when the number of sunspots
observed is a lot higher than average.
The mean of a right-skewed distribution is almost always greater

than its median. That’s because extreme values (the values in the
tail) affect the mean more than the median.
Right skew: mean > median
For example, the mean number of sunspots observed per year was
48.6, which is greater than the median of 39.
What is left skew (negative skew)?

A left-skewed distribution is longer on the left side of its peak than
on its right. In other words, a left-skewed distribution has a long tail
on its left side. Left skew is also referred to as negative skew.
Test scores often follow a left-skewed distribution, with most

students performing relatively well and a few students performing
far below average. The histogram below shows scores for the
zoology portion of a standardized test taken by Indian students at
the end of high school.
The distribution is left-skewed because it’s longer on the left side

of its peak. The long tail on its left represents the small proportion
of students who received very low scores.
The mean of a left-skewed distribution is almost always less than

its median.
Left skew: mean < median
For example, the mean zoology test score was 53.7, which is less
than the median of 55.
How to calculate skewness

There are several formulas to measure skewness. One of the
simplest is Pearson’s median skewness. It takes advantage of the
fact that the mean and median are unequal in a skewed
distribution.
Pearson’s median skewness =
Pearson’s median skewness tells you how many standard

deviations separate the mean and median.
Real observations rarely have a Pearson’s median skewness of

exactly 0. If your data has a value close to 0, you can consider it to
have zero skew. There’s no standard convention for what counts as
“close enough” to 0 (although this research suggests that 0.4 and
−0.4 are reasonable cutoffs for large samples).
Example: Calculating Pearson’s median skewness
Pearson’s median skewness of the number of sunspots

observed per year:
Mean = 48.6
Median = 39
Standard deviation = 39.5
Calculation
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Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by
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What to do if your data is skewed

One reason you might check if a distribution is skewed is to verify
whether your data is appropriate for a certain statistical procedure.
Many statistical procedures assume that variables or residuals are
normally distributed. Skew is a common way that a distribution can
differ from a normal distribution.
You generally have three choices if your statistical procedure

requires a normal distribution and your data is skewed:
1. Do nothing. Many statistical tests, including t tests, ANOVAs,

and linear regressions, aren’t very sensitive to skewed data.
Especially if the skew is mild or moderate, it may be best to
ignore it.
2. Use a different model. You may want to choose a model that

doesn’t assume a normal distribution. Non-parametric tests or
generalized linear models could be more appropriate for your
data.
3. Transform the variable. Another option is to transform a

skewed variable so that it’s less skewed. “Transform” means
to apply the same function to all the observations of a
variable.
Transformations based on the type of skew
Type of skew
Intensity of skew
Transformation
Right
Mild
Do not transform
Moderate
Square root
Strong
Natural log
Very strong
Log base 10
Left
Mild
Do not transform
Moderate
Reflect* then square root
Strong
Reflect* then natural log
Very strong
Reflect* then log base 10
*In this context, “reflect” means to take the largest observation, K, then subtract each
observation from K + 1. Keep in mind that the reflection reverses the direction of the
variable and its relationships with other variables (i.e., positive relationships become
negative).
Example: Transforming a right-skewed variable
Imagine you performed a linear regression to predict the

number of sunspots observed per year, and you found that
the residuals are not normally distributed.
Since the number of sunspots observed per year is right-

skewed, you can try to address the issue by transforming
the variable. You could also ignore the skew, since linear
regression isn’t very sensitive to skew.
Start with a square root transformation. If that isn’t enough

to correct the skew, you can move on to the next
transformation option.
Number of sunspots per Sqrt(number of sunspots per

year year)
5 2,236
11 3,317
16 4,000
23 4,796
… …
When you plot the transformed variable on a histogram, you

can see that it now has close to zero skew. You can replace
the number of sunspots per year with the transformed
variable in the linear regression. It’s likely that the residuals
of the linear regression will now be normally distributed.

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1/23/24, 10:48 PM Skewness | Definition, Examples & Formula

Skewness | Definition, Examples

Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of a distribution. A

You might want to calculate the skewness of a distribution to:

Describe the distribution of a variable alongside other

1. What is zero skew?

5. What to do if your data is skewed

What is zero skew?

The easiest way to check if a variable has a skewed distribution is

The distribution is approximately symmetrical, with the

Zero skew: mean = median

Although a theoretical distribution (e.g., the z distribution) can have

Receive feedback on language,

What is right skew (positive skew)?

You can think of skewness in terms of tails. A tail is a long, tapering

The number of sunspots observed per year, shown in the

The distribution is right-skewed because it’s longer on the right

The mean of a right-skewed distribution is almost always greater

Right skew: mean > median

What is left skew (negative skew)?

Test scores often follow a left-skewed distribution, with most

The distribution is left-skewed because it’s longer on the left side

The mean of a left-skewed distribution is almost always less than

Left skew: mean < median

How to calculate skewness

Pearson’s median skewness =

Pearson’s median skewness tells you how many standard

Real observations rarely have a Pearson’s median skewness of

Example: Calculating Pearson’s median skewness

Pearson’s median skewness of the number of sunspots

Pearson’s median skewness =

Pearson’s median skewness =

Pearson’s median skewness =

Receive feedback on language,

What to do if your data is skewed

You generally have three choices if your statistical procedure

1. Do nothing. Many statistical tests, including t tests, ANOVAs,

2. Use a different model. You may want to choose a model that

3. Transform the variable. Another option is to transform a

Transformations based on the type of skew

Reflect* then square root

Reflect* then natural log

Reflect* then log base 10

Example: Transforming a right-skewed variable

Imagine you performed a linear regression to predict the

Since the number of sunspots observed per year is right-

Start with a square root transformation. If that isn’t enough

Number of sunspots per Sqrt(number of sunspots per

When you plot the transformed variable on a histogram, you

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