Final answer:
A stem-and-leaf plot is constructed using stems as the first digits and leaves as the second digits of a set of data. For the given grades, stems range from 4 to 9 and each corresponding leaf is placed in ascending order next to its stem.
Step-by-step explanation:
How to Construct a Stem-and-Leaf Plot
To construct a stem-and-leaf plot for the following list of grades on a recent test: 73, 42, 67, 78, 99, 84, 91, 82, 86, 94, follow these steps:
- Identify the stems. The stem can be the first digit(s) of the numbers. For these grades, the stems will be 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
- Identify the leaves. In this case, the leaves are the second digits of the numbers.
- Arrange the stems in ascending order from top to bottom on the left side of the plot.
- Place the leaves in ascending order next to their corresponding stem, to the right of a vertical line.
The stem-and-leaf plot will look like this:
4 | 2
6 | 7
7 | 3 8
8 | 2 4 6
9 | 1 4 9
The stem-and-leaf plot provides a quick way to see the distribution of the test grades and to identify data patterns or potential outliers.