Q. 2.51 - Elementary Statistics

Question

Discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of stem-and leaf diagrams versus frequency histograms.

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

The advantage of a stem leaf diagram is it gives a concise representation of data.

The advantage of a frequency histogram is, that it is visually strong.

Histograms are usually preferable to stem and leaf diagrams in large data sets.

The disadvantage of a stem leaf diagram is not visual.

The disadvantage of histogram frequency is cannot read exact values because data is grouped into categories.

Step 1: Concept introduction

A histogram is a data representation that looks like a bar graph that buckets a variety of outcomes into columns along the $x-$axis.

Step 2: Advantages of stem leaf diagram and frequency histogram

The advantage of a stem leaf diagram:

• Data presented in a clear and concise manner
• Range, minimum and maximum values, gaps and clusters, and outliers are all plainly visible.

The advantages of frequency hostogram:

• Visually appealing
• The vertical axis is usually a tally of how many items fall into each category.
• In big data sets, histograms are frequently preferred over stem and leaf diagrams.

Step 3: The disadvantages of stem leaf diagram and frequency diagram

The disadvantages of stem leaf diagram 

• It doesn't look good.
• For huge data sets, it is difficult to determine measurements of centrality.
• Not useful with large data sets and awkward with data containing many digits.

The disadvantages of  frequency diagram 

• Because the data is organised into groups, it is impossible to read exact values.
• Comparing two data sets is more challenging.
• Only use this method with continuous data.