| abscissa | the horizontal axis, or X axis, on a graph
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| ordinate | the vertical axis, or Y axis, on a graph
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| frequency polygon | graph of a frequency distribution; scores are plotted on the X axis, and frequencies are plotted on the Y axis
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| normal curve | symmetrical, bell-shaped curve whose tails never reach the X axis and whose measures of central tendency are identical
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| skewed curve | curve in which a large number of scores are piled up at one end, with a tail at the other end
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| positively skewed curve | skewed distribution with a tail toward the upper end of the X axis
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| negatively skewed curve | skewed distribution with a tail toward the lower end of the X axis
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| cumulative frequency curve | curve in which the cumulative frequencies are plotted over the scores
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| histogram | same as the frequency polygon except that rectangular bars are plotted over the scores rather than dots
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| bar graph | type of histogram used to graph nominal scale or categorical data; each bar is separated from its neighbors
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| stem-and-leaf plot | data display created by splitting each score into a stem and a leaf, listing the different stems from lowest to highest, and putting each leaf beside its stem
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| line graph | graph in which the independent variable is plotted on the X axis and some measure of the dependent variable is plotted on the Y axis.
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education