Stem-and-Leaf Plots (page 1 of 2)

Stem-and-leaf plots are a method for showing the frequency with which certain classes of values occur. You could
make a frequency distribution table or a histogram for the values, or you can use a stem-and-leaf plot and let the
numbers themselves to show pretty much the same information.
For instance, suppose you have the following list of values: 12, 13, 21, 27, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 40, 41. You could
make a frequency distribution table showing how many tens, twenties, thirties, and forties you have:
Frequency
Frequency
Class

10 - 19 2
20 - 29 2
30 - 39 4
40 - 49 3
You could make a histogram, which is a bar-graph showing the number of occurrences, with the classes being
numbers in the tens, twenties, thirties, and forties:

(The shading of the bars in a histogram isn't necessary, but it can be helpful by making the bars easier to see,
especially if you can't use color to differentiate the bars.)
The downside of frequency distribution tables and histograms is that, while the frequency of each class is easy to
see, the original data points have been lost. You can tell, for instance, that there must have been three listed
values that were in the forties, but there is no way to tell from the table or from the histogram what those values
might have been.
On the other hand, you could make a stem-and-leaf plot for the same data:

The "stem" is the left-hand column which contains the tens digits. The "leaves" are the lists in the right-hand
column, showing all the ones digits for each of the tens, twenties, thirties, and forties. As you can see, the original
values can still be determined; you can tell, from that bottom leaf, that the three values in the forties were 40, 40,
and 41.
Note that the horizontal leaves in the stem-and-leaf plot correspond to the vertical bars in the histogram, and the
leaves have lengths that equal the numbers in the frequency table.
That's pretty much all there is to a stem-and-leaf plot. You're just listing out how many entries you have in certain
classes of numbers, and what those entries are. Here are some more examples of stem-and-leaf plots,
containing a few additional details.
• Complete a stem-and-leaf plot for the following list of grades on a recent test:
 73, 42, 67, 78, 99, 84, 91, 82, 86, 94
I'll use the tens digits as the stem values and the ones digits as the leaves. For convenience sake, I'll order
the list, but this is not required:
42, 67, 73, 78, 82, 84, 86, 91, 94, 99
Since I know where these data points came from ("a recent test"), I'll use a title. Then my plot looks like
this: Copyright © Elizabeth 1999-2009 All Rights Reserved

The above is the simplest case for stem-and-leaf plots, but even the "complicated" cases aren't much more
complex.
• Subjects in a psychological study were timed while completing a certain task. Complete a stem-
and-leaf plot for the following list of times:
7.6, 8.1, 9.2, 6.8, 5.9, 6.2, 6.1, 5.8, 7.3, 8.1, 8.8, 7.4, 7.7, 8.2
First, I'll reorder this list: Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 1999-2009 All Rights Reserved

5.8, 5.9, 6.1, 6.2, 6.8, 7.3, 7.4, 7.6, 7.7, 8.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.8, 9.2
These values have one decimal place, but the stem-and-leaf plot makes no accomodation for this. The
stem-and-leaf plot only looks at the last digit (for the leaves) and all the digits before (for the stem). So I'll
have to put a "key" or legend on this plot to show what I mean by the numbers in this plot. The ones digits
will be the stem values, and the tenths will be the leaves.

Properly, every stem-and-leaf plot should have a key.

• Complete a stem-and-leaf plot for the following two lists of class sizes:
Economics 101: 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 21, 22, 25, 25, 26
Libertarianism: 14, 16, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20, 24, 29
This example has two lists of values. Since the values are similar, I can plot them all on one stem-and-leaf
plot by drawing leaves on either side of the stem. I will use the tens digits as the stem values, and the ones
digits as the leaves. Since "9" (in the Econ 101 list) has no tens digit, the stem value will be "0".
 • Complete a stem-and-leaf plot for the following list of values:
100, 110, 120, 130, 130, 150, 160, 170, 170, 190,
210, 230, 240, 260, 270, 270, 280. 290, 290
Since all the ones digits are zeroes, I'll do this plot with the hundreds digits being the stem values and the
tens digits being the leaves. I can do the plot like this:

...but the leaves are fairly long this way, because the values are so close together. To spread the values
out a bit, I can break each leaf into two. For instance, the leaf for the two-hundreds class can be split into
two classes, being the numbers between 200 and 240 and the numbers between 250 and 290. I can also
reverse the order, so the smaller values are at the bottom of the "stem". The new plot looks like this:

For very compact data points, you can even split the leaves into five classes, like this:
 • Complete a stem-and-leaf plot for the following list of values:
23.25, 24.13, 24.76, 24.81, 24.98, 25.31, 25.57, 25.89, 26.28, 26.34, 27.09
If I try to use the last digit, the hundredths digit, for these numbers, the stem-and-leaf plot will be
enormously long, because these values are so spread out. (With the numbers' first three digits ranging
from 232 to 270, I'd have thirty-nine leaves, most of which would be empty.) So instead of working with the
given numbers, I'll round each of the numbers to the nearest tenth, and then use those new values for my
plot. Rounding gives me the following list:
23.3, 24.1, 24.8, 24.8, 25.0, 25.3, 25.6, 25.9, 26.3, 26.3, 27.1
Then my plot looks like this:

Naturally, when you're drawing a stem-and-leaf plot, you should use a ruler to construct a neat table, and you
should label everything clearly.