A stem-and-leaf plot is a graphical representation that effectively displays the distribution of a dataset.

To interpret a stem-and-leaf plot, begin by identifying the “stem,” which consists of the leftmost digit(s) of each value. The “leaves” represent the rightmost digit(s). For instance, consider the following stem-and-leaf plot:

In this example, the stem corresponds to the first digit of each value, while the leaves correspond to the second digit. For instance, the value $23$ is represented by a stem of $2$ and a leaf of $3$.

To determine the median of the dataset, locate the middle value(s) in the plot. If the number of values is odd, the median is simply the middle value. If the number of values is even, the median is the average of the two middle values.

To calculate the range of the data, subtract the smallest value from the largest value.

For quartiles, the data is divided into four equal parts. The first quartile (Q1) represents the median of the lower half of the dataset, the second quartile (Q2) is the median of the entire dataset, and the third quartile (Q3) is the median of the upper half.

In summary, a stem-and-leaf plot serves as an excellent tool for quickly visualizing data distribution and identifying key statistical measures.