A box and whisker plot is a common graphical summary function for viewing five separate data values in a single graph image. Five number summaries are invaluable methods for displaying useful information about a large set of data. In financial analysis, the box and whisker plot will display the average, minimum, maximum, and upper and lower quartiles of financial transactions. Having this information will allow a quick estimate of financial strength. Despite its usefulness, the box and whisker plot is not a function or graph type that is native to Excel.
In this recipe, you will create a box and whisker plot from the five-number summary of annual transactions for a retail location over a 3-year period.