1. Understanding Shape, Center, and Spread
Lesson 6
Understanding Shape, Center, and Spread
Lesson 6 Understanding Shape, Center, and Spread

2. What is a distribution? In this lesson you will learn
Statistical Questions produce data that can be described using three characteristics.
Shape
Center
Spread
When you ask a statistical question, you will get varied answers. These answers are called data. To understand data, you need to first understand how the data is distributed. For any data distribution, we will study it’s shape, center, and spread.

3. How do you describe distributions?
Shape refers to the way the graph of the data looks. Center refers to the place where the majority of the data rests. Spread refers to how spread out the data is across the number line.
The shape of a distribution refers to the way the graphical representation of the data looks. The center of a distribution refers to the location where the majority of the data is. Finally, the spread refers to how spread out the data is across the number line.

4. What will you be able to do?
After this lesson, you’ll be able to
Accurately describe the shape of a distribution
Find the approximate location of the center in a distribution
Approximate the spread of a distribution using a range calculation
When you are finished with this lesson, you will be able to accurately describe the shape of a distribution, the approximate location of the center, and the approximate spread using the range.