LINE PLOT
created by: Jennifer Nord
One type of graph is a line plot. A line plot provides an easy way to organize data. They are usually used when there is one group of data, and fewer than 50 values.
A line plot consists of a horizontal number line, on which each value of a set is denoted by an x over the corresponding value on the number line. The number of x's above each score indicates how many times each score occurred.
Suppose thirty people live in an apartment building. These are the following ages:
58, 30, 37, 36, 34, 49, 35, 40, 47, 47, 39, 54, 47, 48,
54, 50, 35, 40, 38, 47, 48, 34, 40, 46, 49, 47, 35, 48, 47, 46
Your first step should be: placing the values in numerical order.
30, 34, 34, 35, 35, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 40, 40, 46,
46, 47, 47, 47, 47, 47, 47, 48, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 54, 54, 58
Now create your graph.
This graph shows all the ages of the people who live in the apartment building. It shows the youngest person is 30, and the oldest is 58. Most people in the building are over 46 years of age. The most common age is 47.
Line plots allow several features of the data to become more obvious. For example, outliers, clusters, and gaps are apparent.
- Outliers are data points whose values are significantly larger or smaller than other values, such as the ages of 30, and 58.
- Clusters are isolated groups of points, such as the ages of 46 through 50.
- Gaps are large spaces between points, such as 41 and 45.
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If you have any comments send me a line: jnord@nmu.edu
Last update: December 10, 1995.