Outlier

An outlier is something that stands out from the rest, kind of like finding a pineapple in a basket full of apples. In business intelligence and data analytics, an outlier is a piece of data that’s really different from the other data points. For instance, if a store usually sells 10 to 20 hats a day and suddenly sells 100 hats on a random Tuesday, that spike in hat sales is an outlier.

Outliers are important because they can point to something special or unusual worth looking into. They could be a sign of something new happening, like a sudden trend or a glitch in the system. Think of them as clues that can lead to deeper insights or discoveries about the business.

But outliers can also be tricky. Sometimes they’re just mistakes in the data or something so rare that it doesn’t really help to study it. When businesses analyze data, they have to decide whether to include these oddball points or leave them out to get a more typical view of their situation. Either way, knowing about outliers helps companies get a clearer picture of their business and make smarter decisions.