Suggested answer to exercise: Alcohol consumption from the 2005 questionnaire, 2

Question 2: How would you describe the shape of the distribution and why?

Suggested answer

The upper tail of the distribution is long and there is no lower tail for this distribution. The distribution is highly positively skew or highly skew to the right.

(Distributions with the mode on the extreme left are sometimes described as 'J-shaped'. In fact, it is a mirror image of a capital 'J', without a serif, so it is not a good name.)

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Last updated: 10 October, 2006.

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