What is skewed distribution?

1 Answer
Jan 24, 2017

A distribution is skewed if one of its tails is longer than the other.

Explanation:

When looking at a data set, there are essentially three possibilities.

  1. The data set is roughly symmetrical, meaning that there are about as many terms on the left side of the median as on the right side. This is not skewed distribution.

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  1. The data set has a negative skew, meaning that it has a tail on the negative side of the median. This manifests itself with a large spike towards the right, because there are many positive terms. This is skewed distribution.

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  1. The data set has a positive skew with a tail to the positive side of the median. This means that there are more negative terms.

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