
Again, you can verify this number by using the QUARTILE.EXC function or looking at the box and whisker plot. This makes sense, the median is the average of the middle two numbers.Ħ. You can verify this number by using the QUARTILE.EXC function or looking at the box and whisker plot.ĥ.

In this example, n = 8 (number of data points).Ĥ. This function interpolates between two values to calculate a quartile. For example, select the even number of data points below.Įxplanation: Excel uses the QUARTILE.EXC function to calculate the 1st quartile (Q 1), 2nd quartile (Q 2 or median) and 3rd quartile (Q 3). Most of the time, you can cannot easily determine the 1st quartile and 3rd quartile without performing calculations.ġ. As a result, the whiskers extend to the minimum value (2) and maximum value (34). As a result, the top whisker extends to the largest value (18) within this range.Įxplanation: all data points are between -17.5 and 34.5. Therefore, in this example, 35 is considered an outlier. A data point is considered an outlier if it exceeds a distance of 1.5 times the IQR below the 1st quartile (Q 1 - 1.5 * IQR = 2 - 1.5 * 13 = -17.5) or 1.5 times the IQR above the 3rd quartile (Q 3 + 1.5 * IQR = 15 + 1.5 * 13 = 34.5). In this example, IQR = Q 3 - Q 1 = 15 - 2 = 13. Q 3 = 15.Įxplanation: the interquartile range (IQR) is defined as the distance between the 1st quartile and the 3rd quartile. The 3rd quartile (Q 3) is the median of the second half. The 1st quartile (Q 1) is the median of the first half. The median divides the data set into a bottom half. The x in the box represents the mean (also 8 in this example). On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Statistic Chart symbol.Įxplanation: the middle line of the box represents the median or middle number (8). Two of the most commonly used variation of Box Plot are: variable-width Box Plots and notched Box Plots.2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Statistic Chart symbol.


Box and Whisker can compare multiple series, side by side, and draw differences between means, medians, interquartile ranges and outliers.

Select the data you want to use to make the chart.
#Excel box and whisker plot explained series
This can be a single data series or multiple data series. Enter the data you want to use to create a box and whisker chart into columns and rows on the worksheet. Box Plots can be drawn either vertically or horizontally.Īlthough Box Plots may seem primitive in comparison to a Histogram or Density Plot, they have the advantage of taking up less space, which is useful when comparing distributions between many groups or datasets. In one visual, important attributeslike mean, median and outliersstand out. For Excel 2019, Excel 2016, or Excel for Microsoft 365, make a box and whisker plot chart using the Insert Chart tool. Outliers are sometimes plotted as individual dots that are in-line with whiskers. The lines extending parallel from the boxes are known as the “whiskers”, which are used to indicate variability outside the upper and lower quartiles. A Box and Whisker Plot (or Box Plot) is a convenient way of visually displaying the data distribution through their quartiles.
