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Year 10
Foundation

Calculating summary statistics from stem and leaf diagrams

I can calculate the mean, median, mode and range from a stem and leaf diagram.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 10
Foundation

Calculating summary statistics from stem and leaf diagrams

I can calculate the mean, median, mode and range from a stem and leaf diagram.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The range can be calculated from a stem and leaf diagram.
  2. The mode can be calculated from a stem and leaf diagram.
  3. The median can be calculated from a stem and leaf diagram.
  4. Although possible, the mean is very time consuming to calculate.

Keywords

  • Stem and leaf diagram - A stem and leaf diagram is a systematic way to organise and represent numerical data, by splitting each value into a stem and a leaf.

  • Mean - The (arithmetic) mean for a set of numerical data is the sum of the values divided by the number of values. It is a measure of central tendency representing the average of the values.

  • Median - The median is the central (middle) piece of data when the data are in numerical order.

  • Mode - Mode is the most frequent value. It is a measure of central tendency representing the average of the values.

  • Range - The range is a measure of spread. It is found by finding the difference between the two extreme points; the lowest and highest values.

Common misconception

You can only find the median class from a stem-and-leaf diagram.

The data is organised into intervals based on place value. However the full data is still available so the middle value(s) can still be found. The diagram is a form of an ordered list so previous methods for finding the median still apply.


To help you plan your year 10 maths lesson on: Calculating summary statistics from stem and leaf diagrams, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Challenge pupils to start looking at the shape made by the stem-and-leaf diagrams. Ask them to describe some. Using a big data set and representing it in this way is a great way to zoom out to see the shape of the data and in on the detail. Link with summary statistics, bard charts etc.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
A statistical summary sums up the features of a data set. It may contain an which measures the central tendency. It may also contain the range which measures the spread.
Correct Answer: average
Q2.
The mode of this data set is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 23, twenty three, twenty-three
Q3.
The range of this data set is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 7, seven
Q4.
The median of this data set is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 25, twenty five
Q5.
The mean of this this data set is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 26, twenty six
Q6.
This table represents the number of cars in 40 households. The mean number of cars per household is cars.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 1.25

6 Questions

Q1.
The modal group in this stem and leaf diagram is __________.
An image in a quiz
30 km - 39 km
Correct answer: 40 km - 49 km
50 km - 59 km
60 km - 69 km
Q2.
The modal distance is km.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 42
Q3.
The range of the data shown on this stem and leaf diagram is km.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 34, thirty four, thirty-four
Q4.
The total of the first row of leaves is kg.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 256, 256 kg
Q5.
Sam and Andeep draw a back-to-back stem and leaf diagram to compare their classes' scores in a quiz. Match the summary statistic for each class with its value.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer:Sam's class: range,39
tick

39

Correct Answer:Sam's class: mode,31
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31

Correct Answer:Sam's class: median,54
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54

Correct Answer:Andeep's class: range,34
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34

Correct Answer:Andeep's class: mode,42
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42

Correct Answer:Andeep's class: median,42.5
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42.5

Q6.
Calculate the mean mass (to 2 decimal places) of the data represented in this stem and leaf diagram. The totals for each row have been calculated already.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 80.64 kg, 80.64, 80.64kg