GRADE 11 – STATISTICS AND Representation of

Data: Stem-and-Leaf
PROBABILITY Diagrams
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
Construct a stem-and-leaf diagram from raw data
Make comparison between two sets of data by using stem-and-lead diagrams

Key terms:
Raw data
Stem-and-leaf diagram
A LEVEL MATHEMATICS - UNIT S1: PROBABILITY & STATISTICS 1 (PAPER 6)

1. Representation of data
 select a suitable way of presenting raw statistical data, and discuss advantages and/or disadvantages
that particular representations may have;

 construct and interpret stem-and-leaf diagrams, box-and-whisker plots, histograms and cumulative
frequency graphs;
PRESENTING RAW STATISTICAL DATA

Presenting Data

Stem-and-leaf Histograms Cumulative Box-and-whisker

diagrams frequency graphs plots (Chapter 3)
STEM-AND-LEAF DIAGRAMS
a simple way of showing a set of data graphically.
formed by splitting each data value into two parts. The first part of the number forms
the stem and the second
Example: A part,
grouptheofleaf.
25 people took part in a general
knowledge quiz. Their scores are recorded below
22, 47, 43, 38, 52, 45, 43, 29, 49, 35, 37, 48, 17,
61, 50, 48, 42, 34, 37, 40, 45, 57, 38, 54, 29

Each number naturally splits into 2 parts – the tens digit

and the units digit.
Do questions no 1 and 2 of Exercise 1A on page 8
No. 2 0 4 6 (2)
1 2 5 8 (3)
2 1 5 5 5 7 8 9 (7)
3 0 2 4 6 7 (5)
4 1 3 (2)
5 2 (1)

Key: 1 | 2 means 12 k.p.h

It is sometimes necessary to split the contents of each leaf over two rows.
Example: The times (in seconds) taken to run the 400m by
20 female competitors in the 2004 Olympic Games were:
50.2, 51.5, 50.2, 51.0, 50.5, 51.4, 51.3, 52.2, 50.0, 50.6, 52.0,
51.8, 51.6, 51.2, 51.9, 50.1, 49.9, 52.6, 51.4, 51.6.
49 | 9 means 49.9 secs

These values can be plotted in a stem-and-leaf 49 9

50 0 1 2 2
diagram: 50 5 6
51 0 2 3 4 4
When splitting rows, the top row should contain
51 5 6 6 8 9
the digits 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Higher digits are put on
52 0 2
the second row.
52 6
Stem-and-leaf diagrams can be used to compare two sets of data. The back-to-back
stem-and-leaf diagram shown below compares the height of 15 boys and 14 girls from
a form group.
Key: 15 4 means 154 cm
Girls 14 Boys A stem-and-leaf
9 7 7 5 2 15 4 4 5 diagram comparing
5 4 3 2 0 0 16 1 3 3 6 8 the heights of
0 17 0 2 3 5 pupils in a form
18 2 4 group
19 0

The diagram shows that the boys in the form group are typically taller than the
girls. The heights of the boys are also more varied than the girls’ heights.
The number of minutes taken to complete an exercise was recorded for 15 boys and
15 girls in a class.

Boys: 16, 27, 28, 22, 34, 18, 11, 19, 27, 31, 27, 36, 22, 17, 29

Girls: 12, 23, 22, 17, 30, 16, 15, 14, 17, 37, 26, 24, 21, 12, 27

Show this information as a back-to-back stem-and-leaf diagram.