A star plot is a graphical data analysis method used for examining the relative behavior of all variables in a multivariate data set. This is an example of several different star plots. They show different observations about different cars, including Price, Mileage (MPG), 1978 Repair Record (1 = Worst, 5 = Best), 1977 Repair Record (1 = Worst, 5 = Best), Headroom, Rear Seat Room, Trunk Space, Weight, and Length.
A correlation matrix lists the variable names down the first column and across the first row. The diagonal of a correlation matrix always consists of ones. In every correlation matrix there are two triangles that are the values below and to the left of the diagonal and above and to the right of the diagonal. A correlation matrix is always a symmetric matrix. The Correlation map above shows the correlation between different regions (US, Japan, UK, Europe, Asia, and Engineering Markets) and principal bond, forex markets, equity regions, sectors and styles of investing.
A similarity matrix is a matrix of scores which show the similarities between two data points. They are generally used in sequence alignment. The higher the score the more similar characters it receives. This is a similarity matrix comparing different types of organisms. The red line that goes down the center suggest high similarity or exactness. The different shades of blue (and green) represent how similar the organisms are.
Stem and leaf plot is a way to show quantitative data in a graphical format to help visualize the distribution among categories. It came about from teh work of Arther Bowley in the early 1900's. The plot above is a stem and leaf plot of the ages of people that were at a family reunion. Most of the people were in their 30's. There were 3 children, one in their 40's, two in their 50's, and one in their 80's.
