A box plot, also known as a box-and-whisker plot, is a graphical representation of a dataset that displays its distribution. It summarizes key statistics, including the median, quartiles, and potential outliers. The central box represents the interquartile range (IQR), which contains the middle 50% of the data, while the lines extending from the box, called "whiskers," indicate the range of the data. Box plots are useful for comparing multiple datasets side by side. They allow for quick visual assessments of the spread and symmetry of the data, making it easier to identify trends, differences, and outliers. This makes them a popular choice in fields like statistics and data analysis.