Bin Width and Histogram Shape
Bin Width and Histogram Shape
This histogram presents data regarding the time between eruptions of Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Adjusting the slider illustrates that the shape of a histogram can be quite sensitive to changes in the bin width. As demonstrated with this dataset, large bin widths may hide patterns in the data, while small bin widths may yield graphs that are difficult to interpret.
Details
Details
Data appears in S. Chatterjee, M. S. Handcock, and J. S. Simonoff, Casebook for a First Course in Statistics and Data Analysis, New York: Wiley, 1995.
Data involving the duration of eruptions at Old Faithful may be explored online using the Histogram Applet written by R. Webster West and R. Todd Ogden.
External Links
External Links
Permanent Citation
Permanent Citation
Jim Brandt
"Bin Width and Histogram Shape"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BinWidthAndHistogramShape/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: March 7, 2011