174 Fundamentals of StatisticsThe boxplot gives us yet another visual picture of our data. Note that
the three extreme prices in the nonnortheast sector homes are all consid-
ered outliers and that the range of the other values for that area extends
from about $50,000 to around $140,000. Were those homes overpriced for
their area? There may be something unusual about those three homes that
would require further research. The range of values for the northeast homes
is clearly much wider, and only homes above $200,000 are considered mod-
erate outliers. The boxplot also gives us a visual picture of the difference
between the mean and median for the northeast homes. This information
would certainly caution us against blindly using only the mean to summa-
rize our results.STATPLUS TIPS
To specify the chart’s title or a title for the x axis or y axis, click
the Chart Options button in the Boxplot dialog box.You’ve completed your work on the Albuquerque data. You can close the
workbook and exit Excel now.•
Figure 4-35
Boxplot of
1993 housing
prices in the
Albuquerque,
New Mexico
area