kurtosis

Vocabulary Word

Definition

'Kurtosis' refers to the shape of a data distribution's peak. Higher kurtosis means a sharper, taller peak (less data spread out) and heavy tails, while lower kurtosis means a flatter peak (more data spread out), like the difference between a pencil tip and a hill's top.

Examples in Different Contexts

In data analysis, 'kurtosis' is important to understand the distributional characteristics of a dataset. A data scientist might explain, 'A high kurtosis value indicates a high occurrence of extreme values in our dataset, affecting our predictive modeling.'

Practice Scenarios

Quality-Assurance

Scenario:

Our defect tracking shows irregularities in the production process. We need to evaluate our essential routines.

Response:

The kurtosis in our defect rates indeed indicates possible process issues that we need to investigate.

Academics

Scenario:

Looking into the collected data, the similar responses are much more than we expected. It's critical we assess what this means for our research.

Response:

Yes, the high kurtosis in the responses suggests we have a less varied perspective among our participants.