Paste numbers to get a sorted stem-and-leaf plot with a key. Add a second data set for a back-to-back plot.
Separate numbers with commas, spaces or line breaks. You can paste a column from Excel or Sheets. 16 values read.
| Stem | Leaves |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 5 |
| 2 | 1 4 4 7 |
| 3 | 1 3 3 3 8 |
| 4 | 2 5 7 |
| 5 | 1 6 |
Key: 1 | 2 = 12 (leaf unit 1)
| n | 16 |
|---|---|
| Median | 33 |
| Mode (A) | 33 |
| Range (A) | 44 |
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John Tukey popularised the stem-and-leaf display in Exploratory Data Analysis (1977) as a quick pencil-and-paper histogram that keeps the original numbers. Turn it on its side and the leaf rows are bars, so you see the shape, while every value stays readable, so you can still find the median, mode and range by counting.
It works best for roughly 15 to 100 values. Beyond that, a histogram is clearer; for comparing several groups, use box plots or compare data sets.
Sort the data. Split each number into a stem (all but the last digit) and a leaf (the last digit). Write the stems in a column from smallest to largest, then write each leaf next to its stem in order. Always include a key, such as 3 | 7 = 37.
Because the leaves are already in order, count from the top to the middle value (or the middle two, for an even count). With 16 values, the median is the average of the 8th and 9th leaves.
Two data sets share one column of stems; one set’s leaves go to the right and the other’s to the left, reading outward from the stem. It makes comparing the shape and centre of two groups easy. Enter a second data set above to make one.
Each stem is used twice: once for leaves 0–4 and once for leaves 5–9 (marked with *). Use it when ordinary stems pile too many leaves on a few rows.
Choose a leaf unit. With leaf unit 0.1, the value 4.7 has stem 4 and leaf 7. Values are rounded to the leaf unit, which the key states. The calculator picks a sensible unit automatically; you can override it.