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Shapes of Distributions by Ryan Backman

Author: Sophia
Terms to Know
Bimodal Distribution

A distribution where there are two distinct values or bins that contain more data than the others, usually separated by a gap.

Distribution

A way to visually display the values a variable takes and how often it takes each value.

Multimodal Distribution

A distribution where there are many values or bins that contain more data than other nearby bins, usually separated by gaps.

Skewed Distribution

A distribution where the majority of values are on one side of the distribution, and there are only a few values on the other.

Skewed Left (Negatively Skewed) Distribution

A distribution where the majority of values are high, and there only a few low values that form a "tail" to the left of the median.

Skewed Right (Positively Skewed) Distributions

A distribution where the majority of values are low, and there only a few high values that form a "tail" to the right of the median.

Symmetric Distribution

A distribution where the mean and median are the same. It will appear to have a "mirror line" at the median of the distribution.

Uniform Distribution

A distribution where all values are equally likely.

Unimodal/Single-Peaked Distribution

A distribution where one value or bin contains more data than the other values or bins.