The interquartile range (IQR) is a measure of statistical dispersion that represents the difference between the third quartile (Q3) and the first quartile (Q1) of a data set. To calculate the IQR for the given data set, follow these steps:
- Organize the Data: First, make sure your data is sorted in ascending order. The data set provided is already sorted:
1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 18
. - Find Q1 (First Quartile): Q1 is the median of the first half of the data. The first half of the data set is
1, 2, 4, 5
. The median of these values (which is the average of 2 and 4) is:Q1 = (2 + 4) / 2 = 3
. - Find Q3 (Third Quartile): Q3 is the median of the second half of the data. The second half of the data set is
10, 12, 18
. The median of these values is:Q3 = 12
. - Calculate the IQR: The IQR is found by subtracting Q1 from Q3:
IQR = Q3 - Q1 = 12 - 3 = 9
.
Therefore, the interquartile range for the data set 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 18
is 9.