Information from the variation in data

Variation in data is not simply an annoyance — the variation itself can hold important information.

Simply sorting a data set into order can highlight features that are not obvious in the raw data, such as the lack of values between 3.4 and 4.9 in the data below.

6.1 5.2 7.9 2.3 3.4
1.4 5.3 7.1 3.2 2.8
5.1 6.9 6.1 3.4 5.2
5.5 2.0 1.3 4.9 6.4