Box-and-Whiskers--Not Just for Kittens Anymore

Cute, right?  
But not really what we mean by box-and-whiskers in seventh grade math world.  

Last week we continued our study of data organization and analysis as we completed the Iowa Tests in math.  

We have been talking about random samples and practicing our skills at creating histograms.  This week, we will dig into another way to look at data, through a graph called a box-and-whiskers plot. 

According to the website, basic-mathematics.com, a box-and-whisker plot can be explained in this way: as the name suggests, the rectangle you see is called a box. And the reason we call the two lines extending from the edge of the box whiskers is simply because they look like whiskers or mustache of a cat.  The five points or dot that you see represents the following, starting from left to right

Lower extreme (end of the left whisker): the lowest or smallest value in a set of data 

Lower quartile or first quartile (left side of the box): the median of all data below the median

Median or second quartile(middle dot): the middle value of the set of data. If there are two values in the middle, the median is the average of the two values

Upper quartile or third quartile (right side of the box): the median of all data above the median

Upper extreme (end of the right whisker): The biggest value in the set.

If you want to find out more about these plots or your child needs more explanation, try the following video from Khan Academy: Khan Academy Box-and-Whiskers.

Also in the news this week, Ms. Lindsey Jones, an education student from Iowa State University will be working in our classroom until early may.  Lindsey is from Kansas and has tutored college students in college math classes.  Welcome, Ms. Jones!

Calendar for the week of April 8 through April 12

Monday: Iowa Test Computation Test and a LIVING box-and-whisker plot

Tuesday: Five Number Summaries

Wednesday: Comparing Histograms and Box Plots

Thursday: Practice with Box-and-whiskers, CFA 6.3

Friday: More Practice with Box-and-whiskers, retake CFA 5.4

Finally, a cartoon that says it all: