What characterizes a box plot?

A box plot, also known as a whisker plot, is a graphical representation that illustrates the distribution of a dataset based on five key summary statistics: the minimum, first quartile (Q1), median (Q2), third quartile (Q3), and maximum. This allows for a visual examination of the central tendency, variability, and overall distribution of the data.

By displaying these five values, the box plot effectively highlights the median, which indicates the center of the dataset, as well as the interquartile range (IQR) between Q1 and Q3, which shows where the middle 50% of the data falls. The inclusion of the minimum and maximum values extends the understanding of the range of the data, and any points outside of this range may indicate potential outliers.

In contrast, focusing solely on the mean does not provide a complete representation of the data's distribution, as it can be highly affected by extreme values. Additionally, while outliers may be represented on a box plot, they are not the primary focus; rather, the plot aggregates data to summarize its distribution. Finally, while box plots visualize data characteristics, they do not convey a numerical evaluation in the manner that descriptive statistics or calculated metrics do. Thus,