What Is A Stem And Leaf Plot - How To Construct Draw Make A Stem And Leaf Plot

In this video we discuss what a stem and leaf plot is, and how to construct, draw, make, a stem and leaf plot. We go over how to organize the data and the different stem and leaf plots for different size numbers.

Transcript/notes
In this video we are going to discuss stem and leaf plots, what they are, and how to construct a stem and leaf plot.

A stem and leaf plot is a combination of graphing and sorting data as it uses part of the data values as a stem, and part of the data values as the leaf.

This is the data set for youtube subscribers gained for a channel over a 3 month period, and we will use this to construct a stem and leaf plot.

The first thing we are going to do is arrange the data in order from smallest to largest. Next, to make things clearer and easier we will separate the data into groups, according to the first digit as you see here.

Now we are ready to draw our graph. Start by writing all of the first digit numbers in a column like fashion going downwards, so 2, then 3, and on down to 8. Next we can draw a line going downwards just to the right of the numbers, like this. This is considered the stem portion of the graph.

Next we will write in all of the values for each of the stem groups, going from lowest to highest to the right of the stem portion or solid line. So for the 2, which represents the 20’s we have only one value, 3, so we will write that in here and the twenty’s are finished.

For the 3, which represents the 30’s, we have several values. Going lowest to highest, we have one zero, then we have one one, and we will put a little space in between the zero and the one, so not to confuse the viewer, then we have 2 two’s, then we have 3 three’s, then one four, one 5, one 6, one 8, and 2 nine’s. If you are doing this by hand try to keep the same distance between the numbers or write commas between the numbers, again to make the graph clear.

Next will be the 40’s, 2 zeros, 1 one, 3 2’s, one 3, 5 4’s, one 5, 4 6’s, 6 7’s, 2 8’s, and 5 9’s. And you would continue this process for the rest of the stem numbers.

So our finished graph looks like this, nice and neat and easy to read.
And this can be done for a variety of numbers, such as higher numbers or decimals.
Here is an example stem and leaf plot for both of these situations. The stem and leaf plot on the left is for numbers in the hundreds with the leaf portion on the right being the ones place.

The stem and leaf plot on the right is for numbers with decimals, with the leaf portion on the right being the decimal values.

Timestamps
0:00 What Is A Stem And Leaf Plot?
0:16 Example Data Set
0:23 Arrange Data From Smallest To Largest
0:30 Separate Data Into Groups
0:35 Stem Portion, Start Of Graph
0:50 Leaf Portion Of Graph
1:50 Finished Graph
1:56 Other Versions, Numbers With Decimals, Or Hundreds