How to find a five number summary in statistics

Descriptive statistics 5 Comments

Can’t figure out a five number summary in statistics? The five number summary consists of 5 items: minimum,  Q1 , median,  Q3, and maximum. This how to article will guide you through finding the answers in a few easy steps.

  • Step 1:  Put your numbers in order.
    Example: 1,2,5,6,7,9,12,15,18,19,27
  • Step 2: Find the minimum and maximum.
    In the example in step 1, the minimum is 1 and the maximum is 27
  • Step 3: Find the median (how to find a median).
  • Step 4:Place parentheses around the numbers above and below the median.
    Not technically necessary, but it makes Q1 and Q3 easier to find.
    (1,2,5,6,7),9,(12,15,18,19,27)
  • Step 5: Find Q1 and Q3
    Q1 can be thought of as a median in the lower half of the data, and Q3 can be thought of as a median for the upper half of data.
    (1,2,5,6,7),  9, ( 12,15,18,19,27)
  • Step 6: Write down your five number summary found in the above 5 steps.
    minimum=1,  Q1 =5, median=9,  Q3=18, and maximum=27.

Related posts:

  1. How to read a boxplot and find the five number summary including Q1 and Q3
  2. How to Find a Five Number Summary and Create a BoxPlot on the TI-89 Graphing Calculator
  3. How to find an interquartile range in statistics
  4. How to Draw a Frequency Distribution Table
  5. How to find the mean, mode and median in statistics
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5 Responses to “How to find a five number summary in statistics”

  1. How to find an interquartile range on a boxplot « How to Do Everything Statistics said:

    Aug 22, 09 at 8:25 am

    [...] How to Do Everything Statistics The only elementary statistics site you'll need! « How to find a five number summary in statistics [...]

  2. Lisa Barcomb said:

    Oct 04, 09 at 8:19 pm

    Now these questions I didn’t mind doing and they weren’t so mind bogging. I actually understood something for once. These kinds of problems anyone can do them, the information above is a lot more helpful then our book.

  3. Vanessa DuBarry said:

    Dec 14, 09 at 9:44 pm

    Even though this problem is kind of long, the problem and explanation itself was easy to do and easy to understand.

  4. step said:

    Sep 16, 10 at 7:07 pm

    this helped me a million
    i dont know why they dont teach it like this all the time,
    simple

  5. anonomous. Sucks at Math said:

    Sep 15, 11 at 3:00 am

    Thanx this is so much easier to remember I have a test on all this tommorrow so this is excellent help ;)

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