English Spanish

7.2 Box-and-Whisker Plots

How can you use a box-and-whisker plot to

S
STATE describe a population?
STANDARDS
MA.8.S.3.1
1 ACTIVITY: Drawing a Box-and-Whisker Plot
Work with a partner.
Numbers of First Cousins
The numbers of first cousins of 3 10 18 8
each student in an eighth-grade 9 3 0 32
class are shown. 23 19 13 8
6 3 3 10
A box-and-whisker plot uses a number 12 45 1 5
13 24 16 14
line to represent the data visually.

a. Order the data set and write it on a strip of grid paper with 24 equally
spaced boxes.

Fold the paper in half to find the median

b. Fold the paper in half again to divide the data into four groups. Because
there are 24 numbers in the data set, each group should have six numbers.

Least First Median Third Greatest

value Quartile Quartile value

c. Draw a number line that includes the least value and the greatest value in
the data set. Plot the five numbers that you found in part (b).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

d. Explain how the box-and-whisker plot shown below represents the data set.

Least First Third Greatest

value Quartile Median Quartile value

0 4 10 17 45
Number
of Cousins
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

280 Chapter 7 Data Analysis and Displays

English Spanish

2 ACTIVITY: Conducting a Survey

Conduct a survey in your class. Ask each
student to write the number of his or her first
cousins on a piece of paper. Collect the pieces
of paper and write the data on the chalkboard.
Now, work with a partner to draw a
box-and-whisker plot of the data.
Two people are first cousins if they
share at least one grandparent, but
do not share a parent.
First
Cousins

3 ACTIVITY: Reading a Box-and-Whisker Plot

Work with a partner. Collier and
Hendry are neighboring counties in
Florida. However, their age distributions
are quite different.
The box-and-whisker plots show the age distributions
of the two counties. Describe the differences in the
populations. Collier County has fewer people per household
than Hendry County. Which county is represented by which
box-and-whisker plot? How did you make your decision?

0 23 44 64 109

0 15 29 43 108
Age
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

4. IN YOUR OWN WORDS How can you use a box-and-whisker plot to

describe a population?
5. Describe some careers in which age distributions (like those shown
in Activity 3) are important. Explain why it is important to know
the age distribution in a county.

Use what you learned about box-and-whisker plots to complete

Exercise 4 on page 284.

Section 7.2 Box-and-Whisker Plots 281

 English Spanish

7.2 Lesson
Lesson Tutorials

Key Vocabulary
box-and-whisker plot,
p. 282 Box-and-Whisker Plot
quartiles, p. 282 A box-and-whisker plot displays a data set along a number line
using medians. Quartiles divide the data set into four equal parts.
The median (second quartile) divides the data set into two halves.
The median of the lower half is the first quartile. The median of the
upper half is the third quartile.
Study Tip
first quartile median third quartile
A box-and-whisker plot box
shows the variability of whisker whisker
least greatest
a data set. value value

EXAMPLE 1 Making a Box-and-Whisker Plot

Make a box-and-whisker plot for the ages of the members of the
2008 U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team.
24, 30, 30, 22, 25, 22, 18, 25, 28, 30, 25, 27

Step 1: Order the data. Find the median and the quartiles.
lower half upper half
least greatest
18 22 22 24 25 25 25 27 28 30 30 30
value value
first quartile, 23 median, 25 third quartile, 29

Step 2: Draw a number line that includes the least and greatest
values. Graph points above the number line for the least
value, greatest value, median, first quartile, and third
quartile.
Step 3: Draw a box using the quartiles. Draw a line through the median.
Draw whiskers from the box to the least and greatest values.

Age
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

1. A basketball player scores 14, 16, 20, 5, 22, 30, 16, and 28 points
Exercises 5–7 during a tournament. Make a box-and-whisker plot for the
points scored by the player.

282 Chapter 7 Data Analysis and Displays

English Spanish

EXAMPLE 2 Interpreting a Box-and-Whisker Plot

What does the box-and-whisker plot tell you about the data?
Study Tip
A long whisker or box Height
indicates data is more (inches)
spread out. 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72

● The left whisker is longer than the right whisker. So, the data are
more spread out below the first quartile than above the third quartile.
● The range of the data is 72 − 50 = 22 inches.

EXAMPLE 3 Standardized Test Practice

Which statement is true about the double box-and-whisker plot?
Your class

Friend’s class
Test
Score
55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

○
A Half of the test scores in your class are between 85 and 100.

○
B 25% of the test scores in your friend’s class are 80 or above.

○
C The medians are the same for both classes.

○
D The test scores in your friend’s class are more spread out than the test
scores in your class.
The range of the test scores in your class is less than the range in your
friend’s class. Also, the box for your friend’s class is longer than the box
for your class. So, the test scores in your friend’s class are more spread out
than the test scores in your class.

The correct answer is ○

D .

2. Compare the surfboard prices of Shop A and Shop B.

What are three conclusions you can make from the double
Exercise 10 box-and-whisker plot?

Shop A

Shop B
Surfboard
Price (dollars)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Section 7.2 Box-and-Whisker Plots 283

 English Spanish

7.2 Exercises
Help with Homework

1. VOCABULARY In a box-and-whisker plot, what percent of the data is

represented by each whisker? the box?
2. WRITING Describe how to find the first quartile of a data set.
3. NUMBER SENSE What does the length of the box-and-whisker plot tell you
about the data?

6)=3
9+(- 3)=
3+(- 9)=
4+(- =
1)
9+(-

4. The box-and-whisker plots show the monthly car sales for a year for two sales
representatives. Compare and contrast the sales of the two representatives.

Sales Rep A

Sales Rep B
Cars
Sold
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28

Make a box-and-whisker plot for the data.

1 5. Hours of television 6. Lengths (in inches) of 7. Elevations (in feet):
watched: 0, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, cats: 16, 18, 20, 25, 17, −2, 0, 5, −4, 1, −3, 2,
6, 5 22, 23, 21 0, 2, −3, 6, −1

✗
8. ERROR ANALYSIS Describe and
correct the error in making a 5, 9, 4, 6, 7, 3, 4, 7, 8, 3, 5, 8
box-and-whisker plot for the
data.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9. FISH The lengths (in inches) of the fish caught on a fishing trip are 9, 10, 12,
8, 13, 10, 12, 14, 7, 14, 8, and 14. Make a box-and-whisker plot for the data.
What is the range of the data?
2 10. INCHWORM The table shows the lengths
of 12 inchworms. Make a box-and-whisker
plot for the data. What does the box-and-whisker
plot tell you about the data?

Length (cm) 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.1 2.8 2.6
26 2.1
21 2.6
26 2.9
29 2.0
20

284 Chapter 7 Data Analysis and Displays

English Spanish

11. CALORIES The table shows the number of calories Calories Burned per Hour
burned per hour for nine activities.
Fishing 207
a. Make a box-and-whisker plot for the data. Mowing the lawn 325
b. Identify the outlier. Canoeing 236
c. Make another box-and-whisker plot without Bowling 177
the outlier. Hunting 295
d. WRITING Describe how the outlier affects Fencing 354
the whiskers, the box, and the quartiles of the Bike racing 944
box-and-whisker plot.
Horseback riding 236
Dancing 266

12. CELL PHONES The double box-and-whisker plot compares

the battery life (in hours) of two brands of cell phones.
a. What is the range of the upper 75% of each brand?
b. Which battery has a longer battery life? Explain.

Bra A
Brand

Brand B
Battery
Life
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 (hours)

Create a set of data values whose box-and-whisker

plot has the given characteristic(s).
13. The least value, greatest value, quartiles, and median are all
equally spaced.
14. Both whiskers are the same length as the box.
15. The box between the median and the first quartile is three times
as long as the box between the median and the third quartile.
16. There is no right whisker.

Write an equation of the line that passes through the points. SECTION 3.3
17. (−4, −10), (2, 8) 18. (−3, 3), (0, −1)
19. (−4, 1), (4, −1) 20. (6, 7), (8, 8)

21. MULTIPLE CHOICE You run 10 feet per second. What is this rate in SECTION 1.5
miles per hour?

○
A 0.11 mi/h ○
B 6.82 mi/h ○
C 10.23 mi/h ○
D 14.67 mi/h

Section 7.2 Box-and-Whisker Plots 285