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Stem and leaf plots review

Stem and leaf plots

A stem and leaf plot displays numerical data by splitting each data point into a "leaf" (usually the last digit) and a "stem" (the leading digit or digits).
For example, the buyer for a chain of department stores counted the number of pairs of boots at each of the stores and made a stem and leaf plot for the data. Here is the dataset and the stem and leaf plot:
Dataset: 17, 18, 20, 25, 28, 34, 34, 37, 38, 50
Stem and leaf plot:
1  |  7  82  |  0  5  83  |  4  4  7  84  |5  |  0
Key: 1 | 8 represents a store that had 18 pairs of boots.
Want to learn more about reading stem and leaf plots? Check out this video.

Creating a stem and leaf plot

Here's how to make a stem and leaf plot step by step. We'll use the same dataset as before. Here it is again:
17, 18, 20, 25, 28, 34, 34, 37, 38, 50
Step 1: Split each data point into a stem and a leaf. The stem is everything before the final digit, and the leaf is the final digit. Write the stems in a vertical column and don't skip stems just because they don't have any data.
1|7, 1|8, 2|0, 2|5, 2|8, 3|4, 3|4, 3|7, 3|8, 5|0
Our stems are the tens digits:
1  |2  |3  |4  |5  |
Step 2: Write each leaf next to its corresponding stem. The leaves should go from smallest to largest. Our leaves are the ones digits.
1|7, 1|8, 2|0, 2|5, 2|8, 3|4, 3|4, 3|7, 3|8, 5|0
1  |  7  82  |  0  5  83  |  4  4  7  84  |5  |  0
Step 3: Give a key that explains what a stem and leaf represent.
1  |  7  82  |  0  5  83  |  4  4  7  84  |5  |  0
Key: 1 | 8 represents a store that had 18 pairs of boots.
Want to learn more about creating stem and leaf plots? Check out this video.

Example: Reading stem and leaf plots

A zookeeper published the following stem-and-leaf plot showing the number of bears at each major zoo in the country:
0  |1  |  8  82  |  1  3  6  6  7  7  93  |  1  74  |  1  4  5  75  |  0  3
Key: 1 | 8 represents a zoo that has 18 bears.
Problem A
How many of the zoos have exactly 26 bears?
  • Your answer should be
  • an integer, like 6
  • a simplified proper fraction, like 3/5
  • a simplified improper fraction, like 7/4
  • a mixed number, like 1 3/4
  • an exact decimal, like 0.75
  • a multiple of pi, like 12 pi or 2/3 pi
zoos

Want to practice more problems like this? Check out this exercise on reading stem and leaf plots.

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