What type of chart shows spread, quartiles, and outliers in large datasets?

A box plot, also known as a whisker plot, is specifically designed to provide a succinct representation of the distribution of a dataset. It visually summarizes key aspects of the data, including its central tendency, variability, and the presence of outliers.

The box plot displays a box that captures the interquartile range (IQR), which contains the middle 50% of the data. The lines extending from the box (the "whiskers") illustrate the range of the data outside the quartiles. Additionally, any data points that fall outside of the whiskers are plotted as individual points, marking them as outliers. This allows for a quick visual assessment of how data points are distributed and the extent of variation.

In contrast, other chart types like heatmaps, pie charts, and scatter plots serve different purposes. Heatmaps visualize values across a matrix using color gradations, pie charts represent proportions of a whole, and scatter plots show relationships between two numerical variables. While these charts can provide valuable insights, they do not convey the specific information about spread, quartiles, and outliers as effectively as a box plot.