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Box and Whisker Plot in Excel - Step by Step Tutorial

The document provides a tutorial on creating box and whisker plots in Excel, detailing the steps to visualize data including minimum, quartiles, median, and maximum values. It explains how to identify outliers and perform calculations for quartiles using the QUARTILE.EXC function. Additionally, it includes examples and results to illustrate the process of generating and interpreting box and whisker plots.

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adel.briggs34
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32 views10 pages

Box and Whisker Plot in Excel - Step by Step Tutorial

The document provides a tutorial on creating box and whisker plots in Excel, detailing the steps to visualize data including minimum, quartiles, median, and maximum values. It explains how to identify outliers and perform calculations for quartiles using the QUARTILE.EXC function. Additionally, it includes examples and results to illustrate the process of generating and interpreting box and whisker plots.

Uploaded by

adel.briggs34
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Excel Easy 

#1 Excel tutorial on the net

Box and Whisker Plot in Excel


This example teaches you how to create a box and whisker plot in Excel. A box and
whisker plot shows the minimum value, first quartile, median, third quartile and
maximum value of a data set.
✦ Simple Box and Whisker Plot
To create a simple box and whisker plot, execute the following steps.
1. For example, select the range A1:A7.

Note: you don't have to sort the data points from smallest to largest, but it will
help you understand the box and whisker plot.

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3. Click Box and Whisker.

Result:

Explanation: the middle line of the box represents the median or middle number
(8). The x in the box represents the mean (also 8 in this example). The median
divides the data set into a bottom half {2, 4, 5} and a top half {10, 12, 15}. The
bottom line of the box represents the median of the bottom half or 1st quartile (4).
The top line of the box represents the median of the top half or 3rd quartile (12).
The whiskers (vertical lines) extend from the ends of the box to the minimum value
(2) and maximum value (15).
✦ Outliers
To see how Excel handles outliers in box and whisker plots, check out the following
example. 

1. For example, select the range A1:A11.

Note: the median or middle number (8) divides the data set into two halves: {1, 2,
2, 4, 5} and {10, 12, 15, 18, 35}. The 1st quartile (Q1) is the median of the first half.
Q1 = 2. The 3rd quartile (Q3) is the median of the second half. Q3 = 15.

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2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Statistic Chart symbol.

3. Click Box and Whisker.


Result:

Explanation: the interquartile range (IQR) is defined as the distance between the
1st quartile and the 3rd quartile. In this example, IQR = Q3 - Q1 = 15 - 2 = 13. A
data point is considered an outlier if it exceeds a distance of 1.5 times the IQR
below the 1st quartile (Q1 - 1.5 * IQR = 2 - 1.5 * 13 = -17.5) or 1.5 times the IQR
above the 3rd quartile (Q3 + 1.5 * IQR = 15 + 1.5 * 13 = 34.5). Therefore, in this
example, 35 is considered an outlier. As a result, the top whisker extends to the
largest value (18) within this range.
4. Change the last data point to 34.

Result:

Explanation: all data points are between -17.5 and 34.5. As a result, the whiskers
extend to the minimum value (2) and maximum value (34).
✦ Box Plot Calculations
Most of the time, you cannot easily determine the 1st quartile and 3rd quartile
without performing calculations.
1. For example, select the even number of data points below.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Statistic Chart symbol.

3. Click Box and Whisker.

Result:
Explanation: Excel uses the QUARTILE.EXC function to calculate the 1st quartile
(Q1), 2nd quartile (Q2 or median) and 3rd quartile (Q3). This function interpolates 

between two values to calculate a quartile. In this example, n = 8 (number of data


points).
4. Q1 = 1/4*(n+1)th value = 1/4*(8+1)th value = 2 1/4th value = 4 + 1/4 * (5-4) = 4
1/4. You can verify this number by using the QUARTILE.EXC function or looking at
the box and whisker plot.

5. Q2 = 1/2*(n+1)th value = 1/2*(8+1)th value = 4 1/2th value = 8 + 1/2 * (10-8) = 9.


This makes sense, the median is the average of the middle two numbers.

6. Q3 = 3/4*(n+1)th value = 3/4*(8+1)th value = 6 3/4th value = 12 + 3/4 * (15-12)


= 14 1/4. Again, you can verify this number by using the QUARTILE.EXC function
or looking at the box and whisker plot.

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Chapter
Statistical Functions
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Average
Negative Numbers to Zero
Random Numbers
Rank 
Percentiles and Quartiles
Box and Whisker Plot
AverageIf
Forecast
MaxIfs and MinIfs
Weighted Average
Mode
Standard Deviation
Frequency
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box-whisker-plot.xlsx
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March 2025 Suggestions: FILTER function • Quick Analysis • Wildcards • Loop (VBA) • Split
Cells

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