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Suppose I want to make a simple frequency histogram of the following data:

$$\{3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 11\}$$

I'm supposed to use bins of size $5$, starting with zero. Here's my question: Is there a standard way to handle the boundary values of the bins? My textbook has the two $5$ values go into the right-hand bin; is this always the case, or do some textbooks put the fives into the left-hand bin? Thanks!

Peter Woolfitt
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Dan
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1 Answers1

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Just define your bins like $0 \le x < 1$, $1 \le x < 2$, and so on. I.e., leave out either the beginning (or end), just charge them to the next bin. Or make your bins end between integers. Unless the bins are too narrow, this should make no real difference.

vonbrand
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    Thanks for responding. I understand that I could define my bins like that, I'm just wondering if that's always the standard convention, or are there some textbooks whose convention is to use $0<x\leq 1$, $1<x<\leq 2$, etc. – Dan Apr 14 '14 at 15:09