They can occur by chance in any distribution, but they are often indicative either of measurement error or that the population has a heavy-tailed distribution.
Ama-outliers angenzeka ngengozi kunoma yikuphi ukusatshalaliswa, kodwa ngokuvamile avame ukubonisa iphutha lokulinganisa noma ukuthi inani labantu linokusabalalisa okunzima kakhulu.