Anscombe's Quartet
A set of four datasets that share nearly identical summary statistics yet reveal strikingly different patterns when graphed, illustrating the importance of data visualization.
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Origin
Constructed in 1973 by English statistician Francis Anscombe and published in his paper "Graphs in Statistical Analysis" in The American Statistician. Anscombe designed the four datasets to counter the impression among statisticians that "numerical calculations are exact, but graphs are rough."
Updated February 22, 2026