Descriptive Stats

Descriptive Statistics Interview Q&A

Core summary metrics and distribution insights used in EDA.

1What is descriptive statistics?easy
Answer: It summarizes and describes dataset properties through metrics and visualizations.
2Mean vs median?easy
Answer: Mean is arithmetic average; median is middle value and more robust to outliers.
3What is mode?easy
Answer: Mode is the most frequently occurring value in a dataset.
4What does range measure?easy
Answer: Range is max minus min, a simple dispersion measure.
5Variance vs standard deviation?medium
Answer: Variance is average squared deviation; standard deviation is its square root in original units.
6What is IQR?medium
Answer: Interquartile Range is Q3−Q1 and captures spread of middle 50% data.
7What is five-number summary?medium
Answer: Minimum, Q1, median, Q3, and maximum used in boxplots.
8What is skewness?medium
Answer: Skewness measures asymmetry; positive skew has long right tail, negative skew long left tail.
9What is kurtosis?medium
Answer: Kurtosis measures tail heaviness and peak sharpness relative to normal distribution.
10How do you detect outliers quickly?medium
Answer: Use boxplot/IQR rule or z-score thresholds depending on distribution assumptions.
11When prefer median over mean?easy
Answer: When data is skewed or has outliers, median better represents central tendency.
12What is coefficient of variation?medium
Answer: CV = std/mean; it compares variability across datasets with different scales.
13Why do histograms matter in EDA?easy
Answer: They reveal shape, spread, skewness, and potential multimodality of data.
14How does aggregation help business reporting?easy
Answer: Aggregated stats transform raw records into actionable summaries for decisions.
15One-line descriptive stats summary?easy
Answer: Descriptive statistics compress large datasets into interpretable patterns and health checks.
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