
Boxplots, histograms, and scatterplots can highlight outliers. Boxplots display asterisks or other symbols on the graph to indicate explicitly when datasets contain outliers. These graphs use the interquartile method with fences to find outliers, which I explain later.
How do outliers affect a box and whisker plot?
ax.set_title ('Box and Whisker Diagram') Outliers are data points that abnormal and does not follow the general trend of the entire dataset. They could be due to human error during data collection...
What is a box plot and when to use it?
What is a Box Plot?
- Introduction to box plots. A Box and Whisker Plot (or Box Plot) is a convenient way of visually displaying the data distribution through their quartiles.
- Types of box plots. Box plot represents a numeric vector of data that is split in several groups. ...
- Notched box plots. ...
- Complications in box plots. ...
What is box plot and why to use box plots?
In descriptive statistics, a box plot or boxplot (also known as box and whisker plot) is a type of chart often used in explanatory data analysis. Box plots visually show the distribution of numerical data and skewness through displaying the data quartiles (or percentiles) and averages.
How are outliers determined boxplot?
- median (Q2/50th Percentile): the middle value of the dataset.
- first quartile (Q1/25th Percentile): the middle number between the smallest number (not the “minimum”) and the median of the dataset.
- third quartile (Q3/75th Percentile): the middle value between the median and the highest value (not the “maximum”) of the dataset.

What are outliers?
Outliers are extreme values that differ from most values in the dataset. You find outliers at the extreme ends of your dataset.
Why do outliers matter?
Outliers can have a big impact on your statistical analyses and skew the results of any hypothesis test if they are inaccurate. These extreme...
How do I find outliers in my data?
You can choose from four main ways to detect outliers : Sorting your values from low to high and checking minimum and maximum values Visualizing y...
When should I remove an outlier from my dataset?
It’s best to remove outliers only when you have a sound reason for doing so. Some outliers represent natural variations in the population , and...
Why are box plots useful?
Box plots take up less space and are therefore particularly useful for comparing distributions between several groups or sets of data. It is a direct representation of the Probability Density Function which indicates the distribution of data. Attention geek!
What happens if there is an odd number of data points in the original ordered data set?
1) If there is an odd number of data points in the original ordered data set, do not include the median (the central value in the ordered list) in either half. 2) If there is an even number of data points in the original ordered data set, split this data set exactly in half.
What is the difference between the lower and upper quartiles?
The lower quartile value is the median of the lower half of the data. The upper quartile value is the median of the upper half of the data. An extreme value is considered to be an outlier if it is at least 1.5 interquartile ranges below the first quartile, or at least 1.5 interquartile ranges above the third quartile.
Is the third quartile and the max values the same?
So the third quartile and the max values are the same. Here the median is 3. For the third quartile, the values are 4, 5 and 9. So the third quartile is 5 and the max value is 9. Unlike the previous one, the max value is 5 because the third quartile is 4.5 and the interquartile range is (4.5-1.5)=>3.
Four ways of calculating outliers
You can choose from several methods to detect outliers depending on your time and resources.
Example: Using the interquartile range to find outliers
We’ll walk you through the popular IQR method for identifying outliers using a step-by-step example.
Dealing with outliers
Once you’ve identified outliers, you’ll decide what to do with them. Your main options are retaining or removing them from your dataset. This is similar to the choice you’re faced with when dealing with missing data.
Frequently asked questions about outliers
Outliers are extreme values that differ from most values in the dataset. You find outliers at the extreme ends of your dataset.
Pritha Bhandari
Pritha has an academic background in English, psychology and cognitive neuroscience. As an interdisciplinary researcher, she enjoys writing articles explaining tricky research concepts for students and academics.
Boxplot : Different Statistical Measure in Single Plot
B ox plot is the graphical presentation of data commonly used for finding the outliers in the data. As we know, data plays very important role in machine learning end to end processing. Better the data is given to train the model, you will notice model generalizing better to unseen data. So, data is the heart to solve any problem statement.
Important Terms
Median: Median helps you to know how the data is spread in the both side of this mark. Median is nothing but Q2 or 50th quartile [Here Q is quartile]. In simple, it is the middle value of the dataset.
Understanding of Boxplot
Boxplot helps to visualize numeric data using quartiles. Once we depict boxplot for the numeric field, we will see the output which has following important things to notice. So, boxplot displays data with a box in middle and set of whiskers.
Introduction
Many of us would have come across box and whisker plots in primary school mathematics and we learned about Interquartile Range, Q1, Q3, Median and so on. and how to visualise them on the Box-And-Whisker Diagram.
Terminologies
Before we begin, here are some good-to-know terminologies (and formulas) that we should familiarise ourselves with:
Visual Detection of Outliers
Outliers are data points that abnormal and does not follow the general trend of the entire dataset. They could be due to human error during data collection and recording or experimental errors. They can cause serious errors in statistical analysis and reduce the performance of your Machine Learning Model.
How do we detect outliers using IQR, Q1, Q3, Minimum and Maximum Value?
Calculate the Q1, Q3 and IQR using pandas .quantile () method. The method takes in a few arguments but the most important one you should know is ‘q’ which represents the percentile you want to return. For example, q=0.25 will return the 25th percentile.
Conclusion
The concept behind Box-And-Whisker Diagram is abstract, I hope I have narrowed down the concept enough for you to understand and implement the use of Box-And-Whisker, not only for visualisation but also for outlier detection and removal. Thank you for reading!
Why are box plots useful?
Box plots are useful as they show the dispersion of a data set. In statistics, dispersion (also called variability, scatter, or spread) is the extent to which a distribution is stretched or squeezed. The smallest value and largest value are found at the end of the ‘whiskers’ and are useful for providing a visual indicator regarding the spread ...
What is the median of a box?
The median is the average value from a set of data and is shown by the line that divides the box into two parts. Half the scores are greater than or equal to this value and half are less.
When is the median symmetric?
When the median is in the middle of the box, and the whiskers are about the same on both sides of the box, then the distribution is symmetric. When the median is closer to the bottom of the box, and if the whisker is shorter on the lower end of the box, then the distribution is positively skewed (skewed right).
How to interpret box plot?
How to interpret a box plot? A box plot gives us a basic idea of the distribution of the data. IF the box plot is relatively short, then the data is more compact. If the box plot is relatively tall, then the data is spread out. The interpretation of the compactness or spread of the data also applies to each of the 4 sections of the box plot.
What is box plot?
Box plots are only one tool at your disposal for becoming familiar with your data, but it is a tool that is informative. You can read more about the different types of box plots and variations at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_plot. Justin Nafe December 26th, 2016. Posted In: Visualizations.
What are the components of a box plot?
The box plot shows the median (second quartile), first and third quartile, minimum, and maximum. The main components of the box plot are the interquartile range (IRQ) and whiskers.
Why is Brad an outlier?
Brad could be considered an outlier because he is carrying a much lighter backpack than the pattern predicts. Key idea: There is no special rule that tells us whether or not a point is an outlier in a scatter plot.
What is a scatterplot?
A scatterplot would be something that does not confine directly to a line but is scattered around it. It can have exceptions or outliers, where the point is quite far from the general line. but no it does not need to have an outlier to be a scatterplot, It simply cannot confine directly with the line.
Can outliers be abnormal?
more. Yes there can, but you have to keep in mind that if a high fraction of the points are outliers, then they are no longer abnormal. So you just have to judge if it is still an outlier. for example, 2-3 out of 10 points can be outliers. but 5 out of 10 cannot.
Introduction to Outliers
Box Plot Diagram
- Box plot diagram also termed as Whisker’s plot is a graphical method typically depicted by quartiles and inter quartiles that helps in defining the upper limit and lower limit beyond which any data lying will be considered as outliers. The very purpose of this diagram is to identify outliers and discard it from the data seriesbefore making any further observation so that the conclusion …
Identifying Outliers
- Let nbe the number of data values in the data set. The Median (Q2) is the middle value of the data set. The Lower quartile(Q1)is the median of the lower half of the data set The Upper quartile(Q3)is the median of the upper half of the data set. The Interquartile range(IQR)is the spread of the middle 50% of the data values. Interquartile Range (IQR)...
Conclusion
- Hence it is clear that any range above 333.5 or below 201.5 are outliers. Hence in the data series 199, 201, 236, 269,271,278,283,291, 301, 303, 341, outliers are 199, 201 and 341. These 3 values which lies on either of the extremes can be considered abnormaland should be discarded from the entire series so that any analysis made on this series is not influenced by these extreme valu…