Office 365 does include box plots as an option now, but it’s somewhat buried in the Insert tab. While it was still possible to create it, it took a lot of work.

In past versions of Excel, there wasn’t a chart template specific to box plots. How to Make a Box Plot in Excel for Microsoft 365 These are called “whiskers,” and the charts themselves are sometimes referred to as box and whisker charts. Sometimes, a box plot chart will have lines extending vertically up or down, showing how the data might vary outside the upper and lower quartiles.

Third, or Upper, quartile: the median of the upper half of the data set’s values.

First, or Lower, quartile: this is the median of the lower half of the values in the data set.

Median: the middle value in the data set.

Maximum value: the highest data point in the data set, excluding outliers.

Minimum value: the lowest data point in the data set, excluding any outliers.

The basis for a box plot is to display data based on a five-number summary. Statistical analysis uses box plot charts for everything from comparing medical trial results to contrasting different teachers’ test scores. It shows the numbers in quartiles, highlighting the mean value as well as the outliers.

What Is a Box Plot?įor descriptive statistics, a box plot is one of the best ways to demonstrate how data is distributed. If you want to make a box plot in Excel, here’s what you’ll need to know (and do). The software didn’t provide a template specifically for creating box plots, but it’s much easier now.

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