Exploratory Data Analysis of Tar Level of Chinese Cigarette

The main characteristics, basic concepts and fundamental principles of exploratory data analysis (EDA) were introduced, and the tar levels of Chinese cigarette brands in 2004 were analyzed with EDA.The results showed that:1)the tar level of 75 percent of cigarette brands was below 15.0 mg/cig.and that of 25 percent of cigarette brands was under 13.0mg/cig., while the average tar level of Chinese cigarette brands in 2004 was about 13.8mg/cig.;2)the tar level of class 1 and class 2 cigarette brands was obviously higher than that of class 3 and class 4; 3)there was a great difference in the ability of tar reducing and controlling among Chinese cigarette manufacturers; 4)the average tar level in the third quarter of 2004 showed a tendency to increase in comparison with that in the first half of the same year, however, some manufacturers showed further progress in controlling tar level;and 5)the resistance and soundness of EDA were obviously higher comparing with simple weighted average and sample standard deviation.It was concluded that EDA was a good analysis method with good resistance and soundness.