Stem and Leaf Display for Decimal Numbers

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Are you struggling to include decimal numbers in your layout design? Here is an easy tutorial on how to display them in a few simple steps. Plus, I give a final note on the design of all-lowercase text in layouts.

Use

wwIf I try to use the last digit, the hundredths digit, for these numbers, the stem-and-leaf plot will be enormously long, because these values are so spread out. (With the numbers' first three digits ranging from 232 to 270, I'd have thirty-nine leaves, most of which would be empty.) So instead of working with the given numbers, I'll round each of the numbers to the nearest tenth, and then use those new values for my plot. Rounding gives me the following list:

Stem and leaf plots are a valuable way of organizing your data, and determining how many data points with a particular ones, tens, or hundreds digit you have. You can use stem and leaf plots to organize decimals much the same way that you would use stem and leaf plots to organize whole numbers. Since stem and leaf plots are not traditionally used to organize decimal numbers, you will need to create a key that makes it clear to your readers that you are organizing decimals. (Source:encing.com))

Line

One simple graph, the stem-and-leaf graph or stemplot, comes from the field of exploratory data analysis. It is a good choice when the data sets are small. To create the plot, divide each observation of data into a stem and a leaf. The leaf consists of a final significant digit. For example, [latex]23[/latex] has stem two and leaf three. The number [latex]432[/latex] has stem [latex]43[/latex] and leaf two. Likewise, the number [latex]5,432[/latex] has stem [latex]543[/latex] and leaf two. The decimal [latex]9.3[/latex] has stem nine and leaf three. Write the stems in a vertical line from smallest to largest. Draw a vertical line to the right of the stems. Then write the leaves in increasing order next to their corresponding stem.

Income provides one example of a positively skewed distribution. Most people make under $40,000 a year, but some make quite a bit more, with a smaller number making many millions of dollars a year. Therefore, the positive (right) tail on the line graph for income extends out quite a long way, whereas the negative (left) skew tail stops at zero. The right tail clearly extends farther from the distribution's centre than the left tail, as shown below: (Source: www150.statcan.gc.ca)