Stem and Leaf Plots

A Stem and Leaf Plot is a special table where each data value is split into a "stem" (the first digit or digits) and a "leaf" (usually the last digit). Like in this example:

Example:

"32" is split into "3" (stem) and "2" (leaf).

Stem and Leaf Plot

More Examples:

  • Stem "1" Leaf "5" means 15
  • Stem "1" Leaf "6" means 16
  • Stem "2" Leaf "1" means 21
  • etc

The "stem" values are listed down, and the "leaf" values go right (or left) from the stem values.

The "stem" is used to group the scores and each "leaf" shows the individual scores within each group.

Example: Long Jump

Sam got his friends to do a long jump and got these results:

long jump

2.3, 2.5, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8 3.2, 3.6, 3.6, 4.5, 5.0

And here is the stem-and-leaf plot:

Stem Leaf
2 3 5 5 7 8
3 2 6 6
4 5
5 0

Stem "2" Leaf "3" means 2.3

Note:

  • Say what the stem and leaf mean (Stem "2" Leaf "3" means 2.3)
  • In this case each leaf is a decimal
  • It is OK to repeat a leaf value
  • 5.0 has a leaf of "0"

 

687,688,1445,1446,3119,3120,3121,3122,3123,5053,5054,5055,5056