The general shape of a frequency distribution. For many data sets, statisticians use this information to determine whether there is a “normal” distribution of values. In normal distributions, the mean, median, and mode are the same. Whether the distribution is symmetrical or skewed in a certain direction. If the data is skewed to the right, this shows the mean will be greater than the median. Similarly, if the data is skewed left, the mean will be less than the median. The symmetry, or asymmetry, of the chart can help statisticians calculate probability. The modality of the data set. This means how many peaks exist in the data. For normal distributions, there will be one peak, or mode, in the data set.
