Lin is the regional manager for a chain of stores. She wants to determine which store should receive a higher volume of team wristbands. The box plots represent the number of team wristbands sold daily at two of Lin’s stores. Which store has a greater variety of numbers of wristbands sold? How do you know?

The store that has a greater variety of numbers of wristbands sold is the store whose box plot has a greater IQR value.

How do we Determine Variability in a Box Plot?

• Variability of a data distribution that is represented by a box plot can be determined by the interquartile range (IQR) = Upper Quartile (Q3) - Lower Quartile (Q1).

• See the diagram attached below to understand how to get the Q3 and Q1 of the data distribution.

In conclusion, variability is a measure of IQR. The greater the IQR of a box plot, the greater the variety. Thus, the store that has a greater variety of numbers of wristbands sold is the store whose box plot has a greater IQR value.

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