Line Plots

Reading a Line Plot

According to this line plot 8 people have 1 pet, 5 people have 2 pets, 3 people have 3 pets, 3 people have 4 pets, and 1 person has 5 pets.

Let's put this in a sequence of numbers in order from least to greatest

Since there are 8 people who have 1 pet, we will write eight 1's, five 2's, three 3's, three 4's, and one 5

1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,5

We can tell that the majority of people own 1 pet, and least amount of people own 5 pets.

Sometimes you will be asked to find the mode, median, and outlier for the set as well.

The mode for this set is 1 because that is the number that you see the most.

The median for this set is 2

The outlier for this set is 5. When you subtract the first two numbers you get a difference of 0, when you subtract the last two number you get a difference of 1. 1 is greater than 0 so the last number in the set is the outlier.

Mode, Median, and Outliers

Helpful Homework Hints

1st step to solve any question having to do with median, mode, and outliers - Put the numbers in order from least to greatest

Mode- This is the number that you see most often

Median - This is the number in the middle of the set (after you put the numbers in order from least to greatest)

Outlier - To find this number you need to, subtract the first two numbers, and subtract the last two numbers. Out of those two differences, the difference that is the greatest will be the outlier.


Example:
10, 2, 21, 56, 10, 80, 85

Step 1 - Put in order from least to greatest
2, 10, 10, 21, 56, 80, 85

Step 2 - Find the mode (number you see most often)
2, 10, 10, 21, 56, 80, 85

Step 3 - Find the median (number in the middle)
2, 10, 10, 21, 56, 80, 85

Step 4 - Find the outlier
2, 10, 10, 21, 56, 80, 85
10 - 2 = 8 85 - 80 = 5
Since 8 is greater than 5, the outlier will be the smallest number 2
Note: if the differences are the same, there is no outlier