MEP Handling Data

Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2 Data Representation
and Interpretation
2.1 Data Tables
Worked Example 1
This timetable is part of a rail timetable for trains from the south west of England.

Saturdays

Penzance 0715 — — — — 0750 — 0846

Plymouth 0912 — 0935 — — 1000 — 1035
Ivybridge — — — — — 1014 — —
Totnes — — 1002 — — 1030 — —
Paignton — 0940 — 1001 1017 — 1030 —
Torquay — 0946 — 1008 1022 — 1040 —
Torre — — — — 1025 — — —
Newton Abbot 0948 0958 1015 1020 1035 1044 1052 1112
Teignmouth — 1005 1021 1026 1042 — 1101 —
Dawlish — 1010 1026 1033 1047 — 1108 —
Dawlish Warren — — — 1040 1051 — 1114 —
Starcross — — — — 1054 — — —
Exeter St. Thomas — — — — 1103 — — —
Exeter St. David's 1007 1023 1038 1052 1107 — 1127 1131
Tiverton Parkway — — 1055 — — — — 1148
Taunton 1037 1054 1108 1118 — — 1207 1201
Bristol Temple Meads 1115 1154 — 1158 — — 1255 —
London Paddington — — 1325 — — — 1410

(a) Stewart wants to travel from Penzance to London Paddington. Describe the
different options shown on this timetable.
(b) How can John get from Plymouth to Bristol Temple Meads?

Solution
(a) There are several possible options, including:
(i) leave Penzance at 0715 and arrive at Newton Abbot at 0948. Then leave
Newton Abbot at 1015 and arrive at London Paddington at 1325;
(ii) leave Penzance at 0846 and travel direct to London Paddington, arriving
at 1410.

(b) Possible options include:

(i) leave Plymouth at 0912 and travel direct to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving
at 1115;
(ii) leave Plymouth at 0935 and travel to Newton Abbot arriving at 1015. Then
leave Newton Abbot at 1020 and travel to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving
at 1158;

24
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

(iii) leave Plymouth at 1000 and travel to Newton Abbot, arriving at 1044. Then
leave Newton Abbot at 1052 and travel to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving
at 1255.

Worked Example 2
The chart can be used to find the mileage between some Scottish towns and cities.

n
ee
erd
Ab

h
rg
bu
in

m
Ed

115

ia
ill
W
rt
Fo

152 130
ow
sg
la

142 44 103
G

s
es
rn
ve
104 156 66 169
In

rth
Pe

81 42 103 61 115

r
ae
nr
ra
226
St

123 183 84 249 145

Find the distances between:

(a) Fort William and Perth,

(b) Edinburgh and Stranraer.

(c) Which two places are furthest apart?

n
ee
erd
Solution Ab
h
rg
bu
in

m
Ed

115
ia
ill

(a) To find the distance between

W

Fort William and Perth look in

rt
Fo

152 130
the square where the two
ow
sg

highlighted lines meet. So the

la

142 44 103
G

distance is 103 miles.

s
es
rn
ve

104 156 66 169

In

rth
Pe

81 42 103 61 115
r
ae
nr
ra

226
St

123 183 84 249 145

25
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

en
rde
(b) Using the same approach for e
Ab

h
Edinburgh and Stranraer gives

rg
bu
123 miles.

in

m
Ed
115

ia
ill
W
rt
Fo
152 130

ow
sg
la
142 44 103

ss
rne
ve
104 156 66 169

In

rth
Pe
81 42 103 61 115

aer
nr
ra
226

St
123 183 84 249 145

n
ee
erd
Ab
h
rg
bu

(c) The largest number in the table

in

m
Ed

is 249. 115
ia
ill
W

Using the highlight, this is the

rt
Fo

distance between Inverness and 152 130

ow

Stranraer. So these two places

sg
la

142 44 103
G

are furthest apart.

s
es
rn
ve

104 156 66 169

In

rth
Pe

81 42 103 61 115
r
ae
nr
ra

226
St

123 183 84 249 145

26
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

Exercises
1. Mike lives in Paignton and works in Exeter, close to the Central Station. Use the
following timetable to answer these questions.
(a) He starts work at 9.00 am. Which train should he catch?
(b) One day he misses his normal train. What is the earliest time he can get to
Exeter Central?
(c) Mike can walk from Exeter St. David's to his office in 15 minutes. What
should he do if he misses his usual train?
(d) Sometimes Mike has to go to Bristol or London. How can he get to these
places as early as possible and at what time does he arrive?

Mondays to Fridays

Penzance — — — — — — 0641 —
Plymouth — 0725 0735 — — 0818 0832 —
Ivybridge — — — — — 0832 — —
Totnes — 0752 0802 — — 0848 — —
Paignton 0723 — — 0800 0826 — — 0856
Torquay 0728 — — 0805 0832 — — 0901
Torre 0731 — — 0808 — — ——0904
Newton Abbot 0740 0805 0815 0818 0844 0900 0908 0914
Teignmouth 0747 — — 0825 — — — 0921
Dawlish 0752 — — 0830 — — — 0926
Dawlish Warren 0756 — — — — — — 0929
Starcross 0759 — — 0835 — — — 0933
Exeter St. Thomas 0808 — — 0844 — — — 0942
Exeter St. David's 0812 0824 0834 0846 0903 — 0930 0945
Exeter Central 0818 0836 0853 0853 0923 — 0940 0953
Exmouth 0848 — 0918 0918 0948 — — 1018
Barnstaple — — — 0955 — — — —
Tiverton Parkway — 0841 0851 — 0920 — — —
Taunton — 0854 0904 — 0933 — 0959 —
Bristol Temple Meads — 0932 — — 1009 — 1049 —
London Paddington — — 1110 — — — —

2. Use the following timetable to answer these questions about James' journey.
(a) James catches the 1927 at Reading. What time does this arrive at
Cardiff Central?

(b) He wanted to arrive at Cardiff before 11.00 pm. Could he have caught a
later train?

(c) What is the latest train he could have caught from Reading to arrive at
Cardiff before 11.00 pm?

27
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

Bristol Parkway - Cardiff - Swansea

London Bath - Bristol Temple Meads
Mondays to Fridays continuation
London Paddington 1815 1830 1845 1900 1915 2000 2015 2100 2115
Reading 1840 1857 1910 1927 1942 2027 2043 2127 2145
Didcot Parkway — 1913 1925 — 1957 — 2058 — 2203
Swindon 1910 1934 1946 1959 2018 2059 2119 2200 2224
Chippenham 1923 — 1959 — 2032 — 2133 — 2238
Bath Spa 1938 — 2012 — 2044 — 2146 — 2251
Bristol Parkway — 2002 — 2027 — 2127 — 2228 —
Bristol Temple Meads 1956 — 2025 — 2100 — 2201 — 2306
Weston-super-Mare 2023 — — — 2140 — 2235 — —
Newport — 2024 — 2049 — 2149 — 2250 —
Cardiff Central — 2041 — 2106 — 2206 — 2312 —
Bridgend — 2101 — 2126 — 2226 — 2332 —
Port Talbot Parkway — 2112 — 2137 — 2237 — 2343 —
Neath — 2120 — 2145 — 2245 — 2351 —
Swansea — 2135 — 2200 — 2300 — 0005 —

3. Farharaz arrives by taxi at London Paddington at 0800. Use the timetable below to
answer the following questions.

London - Reading - Bristol Taunton

Exeter - Torbay - Plymouth - Penzance
Mondays to Fridays
London Paddington 0530 0740 0815 0845 0935 0945 1035 1135 1235
Reading 0610 0805 0845 0913 1003 1015 1103 1203 1303
Newbury — — — — 1018 — — — —
Pewsey — — — — 1037 — — — —
Westbury — — — — 1056 — — 1248 1348
Castle Cary — — — — — — — 1305 —
Bristol Temple Meads 0750 0915 1008 1028 — 1127 — — —
Taunton 0843 0952 1051 1108 1133 — — 1328 1423
Tiverton Parkway 0857 — — 1120 1145 — — 1340 —
Exeter St Davids 0913 1016 1117 1135 1200 1235 1239 1355 1449
Dawlish 0928 — — 1150 — — — — —
Teignmouth 0933 — — 1155 — — — — —
Newton Abbot 0941 1040 1141 1203 1224 — — 1419 1513
Totnes 0952 1052 — — 1235 — — 1433 —
Plymouth 1023 1120 1222 1240 1310 — 1339 1505 1551
Liskeard 1051 1149 1311 — — — 1404 1547 1619
Bodmin Parkway 1102 1201 1323 — — — 1416 1559 1631
Par 1114 1211 1334 — — — 1427 1611 1644
St Austell 1121 1219 1341 — — — 1435 1618 1652
Truro 1138 1237 1359 — — — 1453 1636 1710
Redruth 1150 1249 1411 — — — 1505 1649 1722
Camborne 1156 1256 1417 — — — 1512 1656 1729
St Erth 1207 1307 1428 — — — 1523 — 1741
Penzance 1217 1320 1439 — — — 1535 1716 1755

(a) Can he get to Totnes by train to meet his friend Lucy at noon?
(b) What is the earliest time he can arrive in Totnes?
(c) Lucy can meet Farharaz at Newton Abbot. What is the earliest time he can
be there?

28
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

4. The table gives the distances, in miles,

am
gh
between some towns and cities.

in
rm
Bi
(a) Find the distances between:

rd
fo
ad
(i) Birmingham and Leeds

Br
108

ry
nt
ve
(ii) Manchester and Bradford

Co
18 114
(iii) Sheffield and Coventry.

by
er
D
40 74 40

r
ste
ca
(b) Nargis travels from Birmingham

on
D
93 34 92 54
to Leeds and then to Manchester.

s
ed
Le
(i) How far does he travel?

r
109 9 110 70 28

te
es
ch
an
(ii) How would the distance

M
80 34 94 59 51 40

ld
he travels be reduced if

fie
ef
Sh
he went to Manchester 77 37 78 37 18 33 38
and then to Leeds?

(c) Denise is going to Birmingham from Leeds. She must stop in either Bradford
or Sheffield on the way. Which is the shorter route?

5. The table gives the distances in km between 3 ports, Calais, St. Malo and
Boulogne, and some holiday destinations in Europe.
Boulogne
St. Malo
Calais

ce
en
or

1422 1560 1430

Fl

n
ke
rla
te

811 1169 819 612

In

e
nic

1370 1561 1388 307 563

Ve

r
pe
m

729 244 707 1708 1172 1710

ui
Q

Re
de

704 344 670 1494 995 1355 400

Ile

z
rit
ar

1110 729 1152 1358 1233 1504 787 409

Bi

(a) The Eccles family decide to go to Biarritz for their holiday. Which of the
three ports (Calais, St. Malo or Boulogne) is closest to Biarritz?
(b) They decide to start their holiday at Calais, and also to visit Venice before
they return to Calais. How far do they have to travel in total?
(c) Their friends, the Morse family, decide to travel from St. Malo to Biarritz,
then Interlaken and return to Boulogne. How far do they have to travel?
(d) Which holiday destination is closest to St. Malo and which is closest to
Calais?

29
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

6. In a school 30 students took GCSE exams in both Maths and Physics. Their results
are given in this table.
Maths Grade

A B C D E

A 2 3

B 1 1 4
Physics
Grade C 2 3 2

D 4 2 2

E 1 0 2 1

(a) How many students got the same grade in both subjects?
(b) How many students got a higher grade in Physics than in Maths?
(c) Which was the most common grade in Physics?

7. The table shows the sports options selected by a group of students in each of their
years in secondary school. In each year, each student chose just one sport.

Hockey Football Tennis Swimming

Year 7 6 18 5 14

Year 8 5 16 7 15

Year 9 7 14 10 12

Year 10 2 12 10 19

Year 11 8 13 12 10

(a) How many chose tennis in Year 8?

(b) How many more chose football in Year 7 than in Year 10?
(c) In which years was football the most popular sport?
(d) (i) In which year was swimming the most popular sport?
(ii) How many students were there in this group?

30
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

8. The table below shows the cost of a week at a large holiday centre. The cost varies
according to the number of people in the party and the type of accommodation
booked. There is a £20 reduction for each child.
Accommodation Type

Saver Comfortable Luxury

4 £180 £260 £368

5 £220 £320 £454

6 £265 £385 £541

Number of
people
7 £305 £449 £630

8 £340 £507 £704

(a) How much would it cost for Mr and Mrs Jones and their 4 children to
stay in 'Comfortable' accommodation for one week?
(b) How much more would it cost if they booked 'Luxury' accommodation?
(c) How much would they save in 'Saver' accommodation compared with
'Luxury' accommodation?
(d) (i) How much would it cost if two grandparents came with the family and
they all stayed in 'Saver' accommodation?
(ii) By how much does this differ from the total in part (a)?

9. In a privatised railway company, there are 84 male conductors and 56 female

conductors. Conductors can either be senior or standard. There is a total of 28
senior conductors and there are 48 female standard conductors.
(a) Copy and complete the two-way table to show the number of male and
female conductors who are senior or standard.

Male Female

Standard

Senior

(b) Comment on the results.

10. Each student in a class chose one sport. The numbers of choices were put in a table.

Outdoor Sports Indoor Sports

Hockey Tennis Badminton Squash
Girls 12 10 15 5
Year 11
Boys 10 15 7 19
Girls 14 9 17 3
Year 10
Boys 15 12 11 13

31
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.1

(a) How many students chose hockey?

(b) How many more girls chose tennis than squash?
(c) One girl says that boys usually prefer outdoor sports. Do the figures in the
table support this view? Explain your answer.
(SEG)

11. The two-way table shows the number of students achieving grades A to E in
examinations in English and French.

English grade
E D C B A

A 1 1 2

B 1 5 2
French grade

C 1 7 2

D 2 3 1

E 3 1

(a) How many of the students who achieved grade B in English achieved a
different grade in French?
(b) How many students achieved the same grade in both subjects.
(c) What does the table suggest about the grades achieved in English and
French?
(SEG)

12. St. Margaret's School entered Y11 and Y10 pupils for the AQA mathematics
examination at the Foundation, Intermediate and Higher tiers.
(a) How many Y10 pupils have entered for the examination?
(b) (i) What was the total number of pupils entered for the Intermediate tier?
(ii) What percentage of the pupils entered for the Intermediate tier were
Y10 pupils?

Foundation Intermediate Higher

Boys 25 18 7
Y11
Girls 10 45 11
Boys 0 13 3
Y10
Girls 0 14 1

32
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.2 Stem and Leaf Plots

There are many ways of representing data. For example, you should already be familiar
with
pictograms and pie charts
but there is another very simple way which quickly gives an overall view of the general
characteristics of the data. This is called a
stem and leaf plot
and the following example illustrates how it works.
Suppose the marks gained out of 50 by 15 pupils in a Biology test are as given below.

27 36 24 17 35 18 23 25

34 25 41 18 22 24 42

Stem Leaf
We form a stem and leaf plot by recording
0
the marks with the 'tens' as the stem and the
1 7 8 8
'units' as the leaf, as shown opposite. 2 7 4 3 5 5 2 4
3 6 5 4
4 1 2
The leaf part is then reordered to give a final
plot as shown.
Stem Leaf
This gives at a glance both an impression of
the spread of the numbers and an indication 0
of the average. 1 7 8 8
2 2 3 4 4 5 5 7
3 4 5 6
4 1 2

Worked Example 1
Form a stem and leaf plot for the following data.

21 7 9 22 17 15 31 5 17 22 19 18 23
10 17 18 21 5 9 16 22 17 19 21 20

Solution Stem Leaf

Without reordering we have, 0 7 9 5 5 9
1 7 5 7 9 8 0 7 8 6 7 9
2 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 0
3 1

Stem Leaf
and reordered,
0 5 5 7 9 9
1 0 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 9
2 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 3
3 1

33
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.2

Worked Example 2
Blood samples were taken from forty blood donors and the lead concentration (in mg per
100 ml) in each sample was determined. The results are given below.

39 24 19 31 65 53 25 17 30 28

25 30 60 22 31 44 24 38 18 18

36 64 43 25 23 28 20 42 30 45

25 24 41 45 35 32 28 53 17 28

(a) Construct a stem and leaf diagram to represent these data.

(b) For these data, write down the values of
(i) the range,
(ii) the median.
(c) Describe what the distribution shows.
(NEAB)

Solution
(a) Reading from the table,

Stem Leaf

0
1 9 7 8 8 7
2 4 5 8 5 2 4 5 3 8 0 5 4 8 8
3 9 1 0 0 1 8 6 0 5 2
4 4 3 2 5 1 5
5 3 3
6 5 0 4

and, reordering,

Stem Leaf

0
1 7 7 8 8 9
2 0 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 8 8 8
3 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 6 8 9
4 1 2 3 4 5 5
5 3 3
6 0 4 5

(b) (i) The range is 65 − 17 = 48 mg per 100 ml.

(ii) Using these 40 data values, the median is the mean of the 20th and 21st
1
values. This is (30 + 30) = 30 mg per 100 ml.
2
(c) The distribution shows that most people have fairly low levels of lead
concentration in their blood.

34
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.2

Exercises
1. A class of 25 students obtained the following marks in a Mathematics test.

26 18 37 42 29

49 21 52 31 32

15 28 24 35 36

51 31 24 46 41

38 40 16 22 57

(a) Construct a stem and leaf diagram. Place the figures on the leaves in order
of size.
(b) Using your stem and leaf diagram, or otherwise, find
(i) the range,
(ii) the median.
(NEAB)

2. The ages of drivers involved in fatal accidents in England during one week are
given below.
17 82 40 48 21 35 23 24 18 57 62 45

20 21 33 27 24 37 58 69 65 19 15 21

28 71 43 31 73 26 18 21 34 35 51 63

23 65 22 45 23 27 18 19 32 25 61 36

(a) Illustrate this data using a stem and leaf plot.

(b) Describe the main features of the data.

3. The lengths, in seconds, of the tracks on a double album are:

Volume 1 203 288 249 215 254 283 266

202 237 221 262 240 253 266
246 273 203

Volume 2 170 185 240 195 202 174 179

182 195 263 190 210 183 201
179

35
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.2
(a) Collect these data on a back-to-back stem and leaf diagram as started below.
Use a second diagram to reorder the data.
Volume 1 Volume 2
17 0
18 5
19
3 20
5 21
22
23
9 24
4 25
26
27
3 8 28

(b) Use your back-to-back stem and leaf diagram to compare the length of
tracks on volume 1 and volume 2.
(SEG)

36
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.3 Pictograms and Bar Charts

Pictograms and bar charts can be used for displaying data when the data are in discrete
categories.
For example, the pictogram and bar chart below show the favourite sports of 25 children.
Football

Tennis
Pictogram
Swimming

Cricket

Snooker

Represents 1 child

8
Bar Chart
Number of 6
Children 4
2
Football

Tennis

Swimming

Cricket

Snooker
Sports
Worked Example 1
The pictogram shows the number of customers Monday
using a coffee shop during one week. Tuesday
(a) How many customers used the shop on
Wednesday
Wednesday?
(b) How many customers used the shop on Thursday
Monday? Friday
(c) How many customers visited the coffee
Saturday
shop during the week?
Represents 20 customers
Solution
(a) For Wednesday there are 5 symbols and each symbol represents 20 customers, so
the number of customers was
5 × 20 = 100

(b) For Monday there are 3 12 symbols, so the number of customers was
1
3 × 20 = 70
2
(c) The total for the week is given by
70 + 60 + 100 + 50 + 100 + 130 = 510 customers.

37
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3

Worked Example 2
John asked each person in the class what their shoe size was. He obtained these results.

7 5 6 8 4 5 12
6 12 7 8 7 12 5 12 6
6 12 5 12 7 6 6 12 8
7 5 6 12 6 7 12 7
5 12 6 5 5 12 6 7 12

Draw a bar chart to show this data.

Solution Shoe Size Total

First the data can be entered into a tally chart. 4 1
1
4 2 0
5 3
1
5 2 5
6 6
1
6 2 4
7 5
1
7 2 3
8 3

30
The bar chart can be drawn as shown below.

6
Number of
children 4

0
1
4 4 2 5 5 12 6 6 1
2 7 7 1
2 8
Shoe size

38
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3

Exercises
1. Jenny kept a record of the average
number of cans she recycled each week 1996
over a number of years. The pictogram 1997
shows her results.
1998
(a) In which year did she recycle
most cans? 1999

(b) In which year did she recycle an 2000

average of 11 cans per week?
2001
(c) How many cans did she
recycle each week in: 2002

(i) 1999,
Represents 22 jars
Represents cansor cans
(ii) 1997,
(iii) 2000,
(iv) 2003 ? Give a reason for this estimate.

2. The pictogram shows how many suitcases were sold by a shop from 1996 to 2002,
with one row missing.
Property

Property
Property

1996
of

of
of
M.

M.
M.
James

James
James
Property

Property

Property
Property

1997
of

of

of
of

M.

M.

M.
M.

James

James

James
James
Property

Property

Property

1998
of

of

of
M.

M.

M.
James

James

James
Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

1999
of

of

of

of

of
M.

M.

M.

M.

M.
James

James

James

James

James
Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

2000
of

of

of

of

of

of

of
M.

M.

M.

M.

M.

M.

M.
James

James

James

James

James

James

James

2001
Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

Property

2002
of

of

of

of

of

of

of
M.

M.

M.

M.

M.

M.

M.
James

James

James

James

James

James

James
Property

Represents 100 suitcases

of
M.
James

(a) How many suitcases were sold in 1997?

(b) What is the smallest number of suitcases sold in a year?
(c) What is the greatest number of suitcases sold in a year?
(d) In 2001 a total of 550 suitcases were sold. How many suitcases should
appear in the missing row?
(e) How many suitcases have been sold altogether?
(f) Estimate how many suitcases might be sold in 2003.

39
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3
3. A class conducted a survey to find their favourite ice creams. The results were:

Favourite Ice Cream Number of Children

Solero 9
Magnum 12
Mars 7
Feast 4

(a) Draw a pictogram to show these results.

(b) Represent this information in a bar chart.
(c) What are the advantages of each type of representation of the data?

4. A group of students recorded the number of vehicles passing their school in one
hour. The results are recorded below.

Vehicle Type Number of Vehicles

Cars 20
Vans 8
Lorries 3
Motorbikes 5
Buses 2

Represent this information with a bar chart and comment on the data.

5. Draw a bar chart to show the data given in the table about the hours of sunshine
per day at a number of resorts.

Resort Hours of Sunshine

per Day

Algarve 6
Benidorm 6
Eilat 7
Majorca 5
Mombasa 9
Tenerife 6
Torremolinos 6

40
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3
6. The children on a school bus were asked which year group they were in. Their
replies were:

10 7 7 10 11 9 8 7 8 9
7 9 11 11 8 8 9 7 10 10
11 8 9 7 10 11 11 11 11 7
7 7 8 7 8 9 10 10 9 8

Draw a bar chart to show this data.

7. A headteacher asked a class of Year 7 students how many younger brothers and
sisters each student had. The results were:

0 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 1
2 0 0 1 1 2 3 4 1 1
2 1 2 0 0 3 2 1 5 1

(a) Draw a bar chart to illustrate this data.

(b) Why do you think the headteacher wanted this information?

8. A group of households were asked to give information about access to satellite,

cable and terrestrial TV. The results are summarised below.

Terrestrial TV only
Satellite or cable TV

100

Percentage
of 50
households

0
1984 1988 1992 1996
Year
Use this presentation of the results to answer the following questions.
(a) What percentage of households had some form of TV in
(i) 1990 (ii) 2002?

(b) What percentage of households had satellite or cable TV in

(i) 1990 (ii) 2002?

(c) Comment on the trends in the results from the survey.

41
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3

9.
1992 USS Matt USS Matt USS Matt USS Matt USS Matt

1993 USS Matt USS Matt USS Matt

USS Matt

= 10 ships

The diagram shows how many ships were in Mathsland's navy in 1992 and 1993.
Use the diagram to answer these questions.
(a) How many ships were there in Mathsland's navy in 1992?
(b) How many ships were there in Mathsland's navy in 1993?
(LON)

10. The bar chart below shows the shoe sizes of a group of 16 year old boys.

7
6
5
4
Frequency
3
2
1
0
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Shoe size

(a) How many boys are there in the group?

(b) Comment on the shape of the bar chart, saying whether or not this is the
shape you would expect.
(MEG)

11.
COST OF UNEMPLOYMENT PER HEAD OF POPULATION

£450
£400
£350
£300
£250
£200
£150
£100
£50
0

SWEDEN GERMANY UK IRELAND FRANCE USA ITALY

£444 £280 £268 £267 £86 £28
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Today, 29 September 1993

The pictogram represents, approximately, the cost of unemployment per head of

population in seven developed countries. The exact figures for six of them are
shown under their names.

42
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.3
(a) There are 19 coins in the pile for Ireland. To the nearest whole number, how
many pounds does one coin represent?
(b) Estimate the cost of unemployment per head of population in Germany.
(c) The cost of unemployment per head of population in Japan is £218.
How many coins would there be in the pile for Japan?
(d) Explain why the pictogram is only approximate.

12. Sally did a survey of car colours.

The notebook shows all her results. w w r w g

r w r b r Key:
r r w r r w white
b blue
b w r r w
r red
w g r w r g green

g w w b r

(a) Copy and complete COLOUR TALLY FREQUENCY

the frequency table.
White

Blue

Red

Green

18
(b) Show this information as
a bar chart of the form 16
shown here.
14

12
Frequency

10

White Blue Red Green

(SEG)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.4 Pie Charts

Pie charts, which represent quantities as sectors of a circle, can be used to illustrate data.
They are particularly effective if there is only a small number of items to illustrate. In
total a complete circle, i.e. 360° , must always be used.

Worked Example 1
Tracey uses her pocket money of £18 per month in the following way.
Magazines £4
Sweets £3
Swimming £6
Bus fares £4
Money box £1
Draw a pie chart to show how Tracey uses her pocket money.

Solution
Tracey has a total of £18.
360°
= 20°
18
So 20° should be used for each £1. The angles needed are given in this list.
Magazines 4 × 20° = 80°
Sweets 3 × 20° = 60°
Swimming 6 × 20° = 120°
Bus fares 4 × 20° = 80°
Money box 1 × 20° = 20°

The pie chart can now be drawn.

The diagram below shows the first section for magazines.

Magazines This is the completed pie chart.

Money Box
80
Bus Fares Magazines
20

80
80
60
120
Sweets

Swimming

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4

Worked Example 2
This pie chart was constructed after asking 72 children how
they travel to school. Bike
Walk
(a) How many children travel to school by: 65˚
105˚
(i) car, (ii) bike, (iii) bus? Car 50˚

(b) What percentage walk to school? 140˚

Bus
Solution
(a) There are 72 children so
360°
= 5° per child.
72
50°
(i) The angle for travelling by car is 50° so = 10 children travel by car.
5°
65°
(ii) The angle for travelling by bike is 65° so = 13 children travel by bike.
5°
140°
(iii) The angle for travelling by bus is 140° so = 28 children travel by bus.
5°
(b) The number of children who walk to school is given by
105°
= 21 children
5°
so the percentage of children who walk is
21
× 100 ≈ 29.2%
72

Note
Alternatively, you could just use the angles in the pie chart to give
105 °
× 100 ≈ 29.2%
360 °

Comparative Pie Charts

If you want to use pie charts to make comparisons, then care must be taken that the areas
of the circles are in proportion to the frequencies that they represent.

45
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4

Exercises
1. In an opinion poll 360 people were asked who they would vote for in the next
election. Their responses are:
Labour 150
Liberal Democrat 60
Conservative 100
Other 50

Draw a pie chart to show this.

2. (a) Sarah recorded how she spent the last 24 hours. Her results are below.
Sleeping 9 hours
School 7 hours
Homework 2 hours
Watching TV 3 hours
Eating 1 hour
Travelling 2 hours
Draw a pie chart to show this information.
(b) Consider how you spend a day and comment on the differences between
your day and Sarah's.

3. Emma has 720 stamps in her stamp collection. She has sorted them into three
groups.
UK 400 stamps
Europe 200 stamps,
Other countries 120 stamps
Draw a pie chart to show this information.

4. The 30 pupils in a class state their favourite sport. Their results are listed below.
Snooker 3
Football 9
Netball 6
Squash 2
Tennis 10
Draw a pie chart to show this information.

46
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4

5. The pie chart shows how the time Ron spends watching television is split between
different channels, for one day.
BBC 1

CH 4

90˚ 45˚

225˚

SATELLITE

Ron spends 1 hour watching BBC1.

(a) How long does he spend watching CH4?
(b) How long does he spend watching satellite TV?

6. Ahmed was given £60 on his birthday. The pie chart shows how he spent this
money.
Quasar

60˚
CD's 210˚
90˚

New jeans

How much did he spend on:

(a) Quasar, (b) his new jeans, (c) CDs?

7. The pie chart shows the football teams supported by a class of children. There are
3 children who support Spurs.

Leeds
Manchester
United
156˚
36˚
72˚
Spurs

Liverpool

47
 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4
(a) What is the angle representing Leeds?
(b) How many children support Liverpool?
(c) How many children are there in the class?
(d) How many children support Manchester United?

8. A postman collects 720 letters from the letter

boxes in a small town. They are sorted into
First Class, Second Class and Air Mail. The
pie chart shows the different numbers of each Second First
type. Class 175˚ 160˚ Class

How many letters of each type did he collect?

25˚

Air Mail

9. Sita spent £90.

The table shows what she spent it on.

Items Amount spent

Bus fares £12

Going out £25
Clothes £30
Records £15
Others £8

Total Spending £90

Sita is asked to construct a pie chart to show her spending.

(a) Work out the angle of each sector in the pie chart.

Items Angle of sector

Bus fares
Going out
Clothes
Records
Others

Total of angles 360

(b) Construct the pie chart to illustrate the data.

(c) What fraction of Sita's spending was on clothes? (LON)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4
10. Arthur spends £180 per week.

Spending
Item £

Food 30

Heating and lighting 12

Clothes 20

Other items 20

Housing 98

Total spending 180

The way in which he spends his money is shown in the table.

(a) Draw a pie chart to show how Arthur spends his money.

This pie chart shows how the average person spends money.

Other
items
Food

Clothes
Housing

Heating and
lighting

(b) Describe one way in which Arthur's spending differs from the average
person's spending. (SEG)

11. This question is about the way water is used in two Mozambique villages.
(a) In village A, 324 litres of water are used each day.
The pie chart shows how the water is used.

Cooking Washing
themselves

90˚ 90˚
54˚ 72˚
Given to 54˚
animals Washing
clothes
Washing
pots

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.4

(i) How much water (in litres) is used

each day for cooking?
(ii) What fraction of the water used is
given to animals?

(b) In village B, the water is used as follows:

Cooking 20%
Washing themselves 50%
Washing clothes 20%
Washing pots 10%

Represent this information in a pie chart. (MEG)

12. (a) (i) 500 000 cars were stolen in England and Wales in 1990.
Write the number 500 000 in words.

(ii) 40% of the cars stolen in 1990 were never found.

Calculate the number of cars that were never found.

(b) The chart shows information about the people who stole cars in 1990.
Use the information in the diagram to answer these questions about car
theft in 1990.

Who steals cars?

Under 17
years old

40% 21%

Between 17 and Over 21

21 years old years old

(i) What percentage of the cars stolen were taken by people aged
under 17?
(ii) Which age group was the least likely to be involved in stealing cars?
(iii) What is the probability that a stolen car was taken by a person who
was aged 17 or over?
Give your answer as a decimal or a fraction.
(NEAB)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.5 Line Graphs

A line graph is drawn by plotting data points and joining them. It is really only the
actual data points that count, but sometimes by joining them you get a better impression
of the trend in the data points. This method of representation is particularly useful when
illustrating a trend over time.

Worked Example 1
As part of a science project Evan records the height of a plant every week. His results are
in this table.

Week 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Height (cm) 0 1 3 4 6 8 9

Draw a line graph.

Solution
First draw a suitable set of axes.
Then plot a point for each measurement as shown below.

Week 6, Height 9
9

Week 5, Height 8
8

Week 4, Height 6
6
Height
(cm) 5

Week 3, Height 4
4

Week 2, Height 3
3

Week 1, Height 1
1

Week 0, Height 0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Week

The points can then be joined with straight lines as shown in the next graph.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.5

Height
(cm) 5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Week

Worked Example 2
Stuart recorded the temperature in his greenhouse at 6 pm each day for a week. His
records are shown on this line graph.

30

25

20
Temperature
(˚C)
15

10

M T W T F S S
Day

(a) What was the temperature on Wednesday?

(b) What was the lowest temperature recorded?
(c) What was the highest temperature recorded?

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.5

Solution
(a) For Wednesday the temperature can be read as 25°C (see Diagram 1).
(b) The lowest temperature occurred on Friday and was 19°C (see Diagram 2).
(c) The highest temperature occurred on Sunday and was 30°C (see Diagram 2).

Diagram 1

30 25 C

25

Temperature 20
( C)
15

10

M T W T F S S
Day

Diagram 2
30 C

30

25

Temperature 20
( C)
15 19 C

10

M T W T F S S
Day

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.5

Exercises
1. A mug was filled with hot water and the temperature was recorded every
5 minutes. The graph below shows the results.

80

70

60

50
Temperature
(˚C) 40

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time (mins)
(a) What was the temperature after 25 minutes?
(b) What was the temperature at the start of the experiment?

(c) When was the temperature 45°C ?

(d) How long did it take for the temperature to drop from 68°C to 36°C ?
(e) What would the temperature be after 1 hour?
(f) What is happening to the rate of fall in the temperature of the water?
(g) Will the temperature continue to fall? If not, why not?

2. The following graph shows how the height of a sunflower plant changed since it
was planted in a garden.
(a) What was the height of the plant when it was planted in the garden?
(b) How much did the plant grow in the first week?
(c) What is the greatest height that the graph shows?
(d) What do you think the eventual height of the sunflower will be?
(e) How long did it take for the height to increase from 54 cm to 78 cm?

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.5

80

70

60

50
Height
(cm)
40

30

20

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Weeks

3. Paul recorded the temperature outside his house at 8.00 am every day. His results
are in the table.

Day M T W T F S S
Temperature ( C) 8 5 4 6 7 5 3

Draw a line graph for this data.

4. Karen counted the number of cars that drove past her while she was waiting at the
bus stop each morning on her way to work.

Day M T W T F S
Number of cars 18 12 22 36 4 10

(a) Draw a line graph for this data.

(b) Give reasons for the wide variation in the number of cars Karen counted
each morning while waiting for her bus.

5. Anna recorded the time it took her to walk to school every day for a week.

Day M T W T F
Time taken (mins) 8 9 15 12 7

(a) Draw a line graph for this data.

(b) Give a possible reason for Anna taking longer to walk to school on
Wednesday and Thursday.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.5

6. Stuart is training to run a marathon. Each week he recorded the time it took him to
run 5 miles.

Week 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (mins) 56 51 47 44 42 40 39

(a) Draw a line graph for this data.

(b) What is happening to his training times?
(c) What do you think his time for the five miles will be when he has completed
his training?

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.6 Obtaining Data from Graphs and Charts

Data is presented in all sorts of ways, sometimes in misleading ways as will be seen
later. We first look at examples of interrogating databases, whether in tabular, graphical
or numerical form.

Worked Example 1
A life expectancy curve shows how many more years a person of a certain age is ex-
pected to live. The curve below shows life expectancy in Ruritania for men and women.
For example, a 30-year-old man living there can expect to live another 34 years.

80

60
Life expectancy
(years)
40

Women
20
Men

0 20 40 60 80
Age (years)

(a) How many more years can a woman, aged 40, living there expect to live?
(b) Winston is 60 years old and living in Ruritania. To what age can he expect to
live?
(c) Rula, a woman in Ruritania, has a life expectancy of 15 years. How old is Rula
now?
(d) At 40 years of age what is the difference in life expectancy for men and women?
(NEAB)

Solution
(a) 39 years
(b) 68 years
(c) 69 years
(d) 13 years

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6

Worked Example 2

How long school children spend on their homework each evening

0 10 20 30 40 50 100%
Under 30 21
minutes
30 minutes 41
to an hour

1 to 2 hours 24

Over 2 hours 11

Source: Which Magazine October 1993

The above information was part of a survey, by questionnaire, given to 400 pupils.
(a) Calculate the number of pupils who said that they worked more than two hours
every evening
(b) What percentage of the pupils did not answer this part of the questionnaire?
(c) Give a suitable reason why these children may not have recorded an answer to this
part of the questionnaire.
(SEG)
Solution
11
(a) 11% of 400 i.e. 400 × = 44
100
(b) 100 − (21 + 41 + 24 + 11) = 100 − 97 = 3 , i.e. 3%

(c) Pupils who never do any homework may have left that part of the questionnaire
blank because they thought that the first category 'under 30 minutes' did not apply
to them.

Worked Example 3
Read the newspaper extract carefully. Use the information given in the extract to answer
the following questions.

THE FACTS OF YOUNG LIFE

There are 11.8 million children in The lowest number of babies born
Britain, 17 per cent fewer than in since the Second World War was
1971. The number is expected to 600 000 in 1977. In 1992 there
increase by nearly 5 per cent by were 781 000 births and this fig-
the end of the century as the ba- ure is expected to increase each
year to 1996 when the baby boom
bies born in the birth boom of the
generation passes its child-bear-
1960s become parents them- ing peak.
selves.
Babies are slightly more likely to
Children make up 20 per cent of be a boy than a girl: there are 105
the population compared with 30 males born for every 100 females.
per cent in 1911.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6
(a) Is it expected that the number of children in Britain will have increased or de-
creased by the year 2000?
(b) If 500 people in Britain were chosen at random, how many of them would you
expect to be children?
(c) What is the difference between the number of babies born in 1977 and the number
born in 1992?
(d) Using the newspaper information, what is the probability that a baby is a boy?

Solution
(a) The number of children in Britain is expected to have increased by nearly 5% by
the year 2000.
20
(b) 20% of 500 = 500 × = 100 children
100
(c) 781 000 − 600 000 = 181 000 babies
no. of male babies 105
(d) probability = = ≈ 0.512
total no. of babies 205

Worked Example 4
A tinned fruit manufacturer thought that people had difficulty identifying certain fruits
just by taste.
To find out if this was true she conducted a taste experiment.
90 people were chosen and blindfolded.
30 were given plums, 30 were given prunes and 30 were given damsons.
The results are shown below.
What people thought they were tasting

PLUMS PRUNES DAMSONS

What people were really tasting PLUMS 18 1 11

PRUNES 0 29 1

DAMSONS 12 8 10

This table shows, for example, that one person tasted plums and thought they were
prunes.
(a) How many people correctly identified damsons?
(b) How many tasted damsons and thought they were tasting plums?
(c) Which two fruits were most often confused?
(d) How can you tell that most people were not guessing?

Solution
(a) 10 (b) 12 (c) Plums and damsons
(d) If they were guessing, you would expect the number of people thinking they were
tasting plums, prunes and damsons to be approximately the same.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6

Exercises
1. The pictogram shows the number of cars of different colours sold by a large
garage during a period of 20 weeks.

represents 10 cars

Red

White

Blue

Grey

Black

(a) How many white cars were sold?

(b) How many more blue cars than black cars were sold?
(c) Find the total number of cars sold.
(d) Calculate the mean number of cars sold per week.
(e) The profit made per car is £500. Calculate the total profit on the black cars.
(NEAB)

2. The diagram shows the amount of energy needed by each kilogram of body weight
each day between birth and the age of 18 years.
Amount of energy in kilojoules needed by 1 kilogram

460
440
420 boys and girls
400
of body weight each day

380
360
340
320
300
280
260 boys
240
220 girls
200
180

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Age in years

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6
(a) A boy is 15 years old. How much energy in kilojoules does he need each
day for each kilogram of his body weight?
(b) A girl is 16 years old. She weighs 50 kg. How much energy in kilojoules
does she need each day?
(c) What happens to the energy needs of the body as people grow older?
(SEG)

3. The diagram below shows the soldier-teacher ratios for some Third World countries
together with the United States and the United Kingdom.

(a) In Syria there are 600 000 teachers. How many soldiers are there?
(b) In which countries are there more teachers than soldiers?
(c) In Nicaragua there are 700 000 soldiers. How many teachers are there?
(d) There are the same number of soldiers in Somalia as in Vietnam. What can
you say about the number of teachers in Somalia and Vietnam?
(NEAB)

4. Two students were each asked to collect statistical data. The information they
collected is shown.
How many brothers and sisters
How students travel to school students have

Bus 4 1 3
3 1
Brothers

Cycle 2 9 6
1 17 14 1
Walk
0 25 15 7 1
Car 0 1 2 3 4
Sisters
Train

(a) Fifteen students cycle to school. How many students walk?

(b) How many students have got two brothers and one sister?
(c) How many children are in the largest family?
(SEG)
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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6

5.
THE WORLD'S HEAVIEST SMOKERS
Annual cigarette consumption per country Daily cigarette consumption per man, woman
(millions). All figures are for 1991. and child. All figures are for 1991.

China 1 617 000 Greece 7.8

USA 516 500 Japan 7.3
CIS and the Baltic States 456 000 Poland 7.3
Japan 328 300 Hungary 7.0
Brazil 156 400 Switzerland 6.5
Indonesia 146 511 Bulgaria 6.1
Germany 146 500 South Korea 6.0
Poland 102 100 Spain 5.9
France 97 100 Australia 5.6
United Kingdom 96 838 USA 5.6
United Kingdom = 4.6

(a) How many more cigarettes were smoked in the USA than in Germany
during 1991?
(b) A typical smoker in the USA was given 84 cigarettes.
How long would you expect these cigarettes to last?
(c) State the reason why China can be top of the consumption table and yet the
consumption per person is not recorded on the table.
(SEG)

6. The bar chart shows the number of children buying different types of food from the
canteen on a particular day.

Biscuits Chocolate Apples Ice Cream Chews Crisps

Chocolate was bought by 30 children.

(a) Work out the number of children who bought chews.
(b) Find the number of children who bought ice cream.

Each child buys only one type of food.

(c) Calculate the total number of children buying food on that day.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.6

Another form of presentation was proposed.

(d) Keeping the foods in the same order as on the bar chart complete a
percentage bar chart in a copy of the one below.

Biscuits

0 Percentage 100
(SEG)

7. The population pyramids for India and the United Kingdom show the percentage of
males and females within each age group.

(a) Which age group of males made up 2% of the population in the United
Kingdom?
(b) (i) Which age group in India accounted for the highest percentage of the
population?
(ii) Estimate what percentage of the population of India is in this age
group.
(c) Estimate the percentage of the population of the United Kingdom who were
female and less than 10 years old at the time the information was collected.
(d) Give two comments on the population structure in these countries for people
over 70 years of age.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.7 Misleading Diagrams

The media (both the press and TV) often misrepresent data in order to unfairly emphasise
a particular point. You will see some instances of this in the following examples.

Worked Example 1
The following diagram shows how the average price of a house has increased in less than
2 years.

£72 800
£61 520

Explain why the diagram is misleading.

Solution
The ratio of the house prices
= £100 000 : £120 000
= 1 : 1.2
In the diagram, the larger house is 1.5 times longer than the smaller one, which means
that the volume of the larger house is more than 3 times the volume of the smaller house.
This means that the sizes of the houses are not in the same ratio as their prices.

Worked Example 2

(a) Explain why the slogan "BIGGER BOTTLES – smaller prices" on the
advertisement could be misleading.
(b) Explain why this advertisement is correct. (SEG)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.7

Solution
(a) It sounds as if the bigger bottle is actually cheaper than the smaller bottle.
(b) The cost per litre of the smaller bottle is
100
£6.65 × = £9.50
70
so, in fact, the bigger bottle has a smaller price for the equivalent volume.

Worked Example 3
The unusual diagram below was produced by a nature conservation group.

(a) The panda population was smaller in 1986 than in 1966.

Approximately how much smaller?
(b) Give two ways in which the panda diagram is misleading.
(c) Describe briefly the change in bamboo yield from 1966 to 1986.
(d) What has been omitted from the bamboo diagram?
(e) Name one unusual feature of the bamboo yield diagram that might lead to
misunderstanding.
(NEAB)

Solution
(a) About 300 less.
(b) The vertical axis starts at 700, so the decrease looks larger than it really is; also, the
sizes of the pandas are not in proportion to 1100 : 950 : 800.
(c) Significant decreases from 1966 to 1976, but little change from 1976 to 1986.
(d) The scale on the vertical axis.
(e) The years are in the opposite order to the panda population diagram, so are not in
chronological order.

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.7

Exercises
1.
EXCELLENT PAYOUT

The Fairplan Worst

Average
Company Company

£71 317 £67 006

£51 374

The pictogram shows the amount of pension given to people when they retire.
(a) Calculate the amount of money that each disc represents for the Worst
Company.
Give your answer to the nearest £.

(b) Why could it be misleading to compare The Fairplan Company with the
Worst Company using this pictogram?
(SEG)

2. The diagram below shows the percentage of British people who own their own
house.

Growth of owner occupation as a % of all British householders

70%

60

50

40

30
1961 1971 1981 1991

State two ways in which the diagram is misleading.

(NEAB)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.7

3. The diagram shows the number of visits (in millions) made to the United Kingdom
by overseas residents for the years from 1979 to 1989.

Visits to the UK by overseas residents

20

Number 17.2
of Visitors 15.6 15.8
15 14.4
13.6 13.9
12.5 12.4 12.5
11.5 11.6

10

5
79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Years

Other areas
North America
Western Europe

Source: International Passenger Survey

(a) Give two reasons why the diagram is misleading.

(b) In which year did the total number of visitors exceed 14 million for the first
time?
(c) Estimate, to the nearest million, the number of visitors from Western Europe
in 1983.
(d) In which year did the total number of visitors from Western Europe and
North America exceed 13.6 million?
(NEAB)

4. The following diagram relates to the SNCF (French railways) and the railways in
West Germany and the United Kingdom.
(a) In which year did the SNCF make its greatest operating loss?
(b) How much was the operating loss in 1982?
(c) Describe the change in productivity of the three railways between 1960
and 1985.
(d) Why is the graph of 'productivity' misleading?

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation
2.7

(NEAB)

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 MEP Handling Data
Chapter 2: Data Representation and Interpretation

2.8 Frequency Graphs

For continuous data, when any value over a range of values is possible, a frequency
graph like the one below should be used, rather than a bar chart which is used for discrete
data.

Time to complete 5-mile Fun Run

30

25

20
Frequency
15

10

0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Time (minutes)

A graph like this is often called a histogram, and is characterised by having a continuous
scale along the horizontal axis. Note that in this case the widths of the bars are all the
same, but this is not always the case, as you will see in the section on histograms. Care
though must be taken about the end points. For example, the first class interval (in
minutes) would normally be 30 ≤ time < 35 , so that a time of 35 minutes would be in
the second class interval.
A frequency polygon could also be used to show the same data, as on the following graph.
Note how it is related to the histogram in that the points are plotted in the centre of the
class intervals.

Time to complete 5-mile Fun Run

30

25

20
Frequency
15

10

0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Time (minutes)

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Worked Example 1
Use the data shown on the graphs above to answer these questions.
(a) How many people completed the Fun Run in between 40 and 45 minutes?
(b) How many people completed the Fun Run in less than 40 minutes?
(c) How many people completed the Fun Run in less than 1 hour?

Solution
(a) The 40-45 minute interval contains 21 people.
(b) The 30-35 and 35-40 minute intervals must be considered.
There are 10 people in the 30-35 minute interval.
There are 8 people in the 35-40 minute interval.
So there are 10 + 8 = 18 people who complete the run in less than 40 minutes.
(c) The number in each interval is needed.
So the number of people is:
10 + 8 + 21 + 28 + 7 = 74

Worked Example 2
A group of students measured the reaction times of 50 other students. The times are given
below correct to nearest hundredth of a second.

0.44 0.32 0.31 0.47 0.27 0.31 0.40 0.28 0.16 0.26
0.33 0.46 0.41 0.33 0.31 0.28 0.38 0.29 0.17 0.26
0.29 0.40 0.29 0.24 0.41 0.22 0.25 0.47 0.31 0.36
0.49 0.21 0.42 0.43 0.28 0.36 0.24 0.37 0.34 0.27
0.49 0.16 0.29 0.30 0.41 0.27 0.29 0.28 0.40 0.42

Draw a histogram for this data.

Solution
First the data must be collected into groups, using a tally chart. The class intervals should
be chosen to give sufficient groups; in most circumstances this will be between 5 and 10
groups.
Reaction Time(s) Tally Frequency

0.15 ≤ t < 0.20 3

0.20 ≤ t < 0.25 4
0.25 ≤ t < 0.30 15
0.30 ≤ t < 0.35 9
0.35 ≤ t < 0.40 4
0.40 ≤ t < 0.45 10
0.45 ≤ t < 0.50 5

Now that the data has been collected in this way, the following histogram can be drawn.

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20

15
Frequency
10

0
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55
Reaction Time (s)

Worked Example 3
Draw a frequency polygon for the data on the height of children given in the table below.

Height (cm) Frequency

150 ≤ h < 155 4

155 ≤ h <160 3
160 ≤ h < 165 6
165 ≤ h <170 8
170 ≤ h < 175 12
175 ≤ h <180 5
180 ≤ h < 185 2

Solution
Points should be placed above the centre of each interval. The height is given by the
frequency. The following graph shows these points.

15

10
Frequency
5

0
145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190
Height (cm)

Note hat points have been placed on the horizontal axis in the middle of the class
intervals immediately before and after the given group of intervals. These points
represent a frequency of 0 for each of the class intervals 145 cm ≤ h < 150 cm and
185 cm ≤ h < 190 cm . Points have now been plotted in the middle of each class interval.

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The points are then joined to give the following frequency polygon.

15

10
Frequency
5

0
145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190
Height (cm)

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Exercises
1. The histogram below shows how the weights of children in one year group were
distributed.

20

15
Frequency
10

0
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
Weight (kg)

(a) How many children had a weight greater than 70 kg?

(b) How many children had a weight between 50 and 65 kg?
(c) How many children had a weight less than 50 kg?
(d) How many children were there in the year group?

2. The frequency polygon shows the weekly wages of a large firm.

25

20

15
Frequency
10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Weekly Wages (£)

(a) How many people earn between £300 and £350 per week?
(b) How many people earn between £100 and £300 per week?
(c) How many people are employed by the firm?
(d) What are the largest and smallest possible weekly wages that the graph
shows could be paid?
(e) This frequency polygon shows three peaks (of different heights). Can you
suggest reasons for this distribution of wages?

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3. An orchard contains 100 apple trees.

Mass of apples (kg) Frequency
The weight of apples produced by
each tree in one year was recorded. 50 < m ≤ 60 5
The results are given in the table . 60 < m ≤ 70 7
70 < m ≤ 80 13
Draw a histogram for the data.
80 < m ≤ 90 10
90 < m ≤ 100 20
100 < m ≤ 110 22
110 < m ≤ 120 18
120 < m ≤ 130 5

4. A psychologist uses a test in which people have to solve a puzzle. He records the
time it took people to solve the puzzle.

Time taken (mins) 0 ≤t <1 1≤t<2 2 ≤ t <3 3≤t<4 4 ≤t <5

Frequency 5 32 18 7 12

(a) Draw a histogram for the data.

(b) Describe what the histogram shows.

5. The finishing times for a cross country race

23 38 43 47
were recorded to the nearest minute.
27 39 43 48
Draw a suitable histogram for the data. 31 39 43 48
32 40 43 48
32 40 44 50
32 40 44 50
33 41 46 51
34 41 46 51
35 42 46 52
37 42 47 53

6. At the end of a football season a newspaper calculated the mean number of goals
scored per match for 100 top footballers.

2.7 1.4 2.9 1.3 2.1 2.1 2.9 2.1 1.7 3.1
1.2 2.0 0.6 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.7 1.6 1.3 1.9
1.3 1.4 1.9 2.1 1.8 0.9 2.1 2.3 1.9 1.3
1.3 0.3 1.2 2.0 1.4 1.7 2.4 1.9 1.7 1.5
2.7 2.2 0.7 1.5 1.6 1.4 2.7 2.0 1.9 2.7
2.1 1.6 0.7 1.5 2.0 0.9 1.6 1.6 1.5 2.6
1.1 2.2 1.8 1.5 1.8 2.6 0.2 1.2 1.4 1.9
1.7 1.4 2.1 2.2 1.5 2.1 2.4 0.5 0.9 1.4
1.8 0.6 1.9 2.6 1.6 2.1 2.0 1.8 1.3 2.0
1.2 2.2 1.4 2.1 1.2 0.4 2.6 1.9 0.9 2.1

Use the data given to draw a suitable histogram and then draw a frequency polygon
on top of the histogram.

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7. Two students recorded the time it took drivers of cars to find a space and park in a
car park. They also noted if the drivers were male or female.
Time Taken (mins) 0 <t ≤2 2 < t ≤4 4 <t ≤6 6<t≤8 8 < t ≤ 10 10 < t ≤ 12
Male Drivers 4 11 24 11 3 2
Female Drivers 0 16 21 5 5 8

(a) On the same set of axes draw frequency polygons for male and female
drivers.
(b) What evidence does the graph provide to support the claim that females take
longer to find a space and park than males?

8. The age distribution in a town is given in the table.

Draw a histogram to show the data.

Age Frequency

0 ≤ a <10 1800
10 ≤ a < 20 1500
20 ≤ a < 30 1450
30 ≤ a < 40 1600
40 ≤ a < 50 1250
50 ≤ a < 60 1150
60 ≤ a < 70 800
70 ≤ a < 80 500
80 ≤ a < 90 150

9. A hire company owns three types of car which are classified as small, medium and
large. The distance travelled by each car is always recorded.

Distance (miles) 0 < t ≤ 100 100 < t ≤ 200 200 < t ≤ 300 300 < t ≤ 400 400 < t ≤ 500
Small Cars 80 50 30 2 1
Medium Cars 30 45 67 70 10
Large Cars 5 12 16 24 12

(a) On the same set of axes draw frequency polygons for each type of car.
(b) Comment on the graphs you have drawn.

10. A large number of children entered a mathematics competition. Their scores are
listed below.

Score 0 ≤ s < 20 20 ≤ s < 40 40 ≤ s < 60 60 ≤ s < 80 80 ≤ s < 100

Frequency 82 166 342 220 54

Draw a histogram for the data.

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11. The graph shows the result of a survey of the times at which pupils arrive at school
one day.

80

60

Number of
pupils
40

20

0
0810 0820 0830 0840 0850 0900 0910
Time

How many pupils arrived for school between 0830 and 0850? (SEG)

12. The table below gives information about the expected lifetimes, in hours, of
200 light bulbs.

Lifetime (t) 0 < t ≤ 400 400 < t ≤ 800 800 < t ≤ 1200 1200 < t ≤ 16001600 < t ≤ 2000
Frequency 32 56 90 16 6

(a) Mr Jones buys one of the light bulbs.

(i) What is the probability that it will not last more than 400 hours?
(ii) What is the probability that it will last at least 800 hours but not more
than 1600 hours?

(b) Using axes similar to those below, draw a frequency polygon to

illustrate the information in the table.

100

80
Frequency

60
Frequency
40

20

0 400 800 1200 1600 2000

Lifetime (hours)

(MEG)

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13. The height of some pupils is recorded. Height h (cm) Frequency

120 ≤ h < 125 2

125 ≤ h < 130 5

130 ≤ h < 135 8

135 ≤ h < 140 14

140 ≤ h < 145 11

145 ≤ h < 150 9

150 ≤ h < 155 3

155 ≤ h < 160 1

Ann records the data using class intervals of 10 cm.

(a) Copy and complete Ann's table.

Height h (cm) Frequency

120 ≤ h < 130

130 ≤ h < 140

140 ≤ h < 150

150 ≤ h < 160

Ann draws a frequency diagram of her data.

Heights of pupils
25

20

15

Frequency

10

0
120 130 140 150 160
Height (cm)

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Ann has made two mistakes in drawing her diagram.

(b) What are the two mistakes?

Another pupil is included.

The pupil has a height of 150 cm.
(c) Into which of Ann's class intervals should the pupil be placed?
(SEG)

14. The height of each of 60 plants of type A was measured and recorded.

Height of plant (cm) 8— 10— 12— 14— 16— 18— 20-22

Number of plants 0 2 3 18 19 18 0

(a) Draw the frequency polygon of these results on a grid like the one below.

20

15
Frequency

Frequency
10

0
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Height (cm)

The following graph shows a frequency polygon of 60 plants of type B.

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20

15
Frequency

Frequency
10

0
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Height (cm)

(b) Write down two differences between the two types of plant shown by the
frequency polygons.
(SEG)

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2.9 Histograms
When drawing histograms it is possible that the intervals will not have the same width.
Consider the data given in the table opposite.
Weight (in grams) Frequency

The way the data have been presented makes it 0 ≤ w < 40 5

impossible to draw a histogram with equal 40 ≤ w < 50 6
class intervals. 50 ≤ w < 60 8
60 ≤ w < 70 4
In order to keep the histogram fair the area of the
bars, rather than the height, must be proportional 70 ≤ w < 100 2
to the frequency. So on the vertical scale we plot
frequency density instead of frequency, where
Frequency
Frequency Density =
Class Width
Rewriting the table with an extra column for frequency density, gives

Weight (in grams) Frequency Frequency Density

0 ≤ w < 40 5
5 = 0.125
40
6
40 ≤ w < 50 6 = 0.6
10

50 ≤ w < 60 8
8 = 0.8
10
60 ≤ w < 70 4 4
= 0.4
10
70 ≤ w < 100 2
2 = 0.067
30

and you can draw the histogram with frequency density on the vertical axis.

1.0

Frequency
density
0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Weight (in grams)

Note
You can see that it is the area that is proportional to the frequency – in fact, a frequency of
1 is represented by 10 little squares in this example.

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Worked Example 1
Police officers recorded the speeds of Speed (mph) Frequency
vehicles passing a speed camera on an
open road. The data is given in the table 0 ≤ v < 30 3
opposite. 30 ≤ v < 40 17
40 ≤ v < 45 21
(a) Draw a histogram for this data.
45 ≤ v < 50 28
(b) If the speed limit on this section of 50 ≤ v < 70 32
road is 50 mph,
(i) How many motorists may be breaking the law?
(ii) How many motorists must be breaking the law?
Explain your answers to (i) and (ii).

Solution
The following table shows how the frequency density can be calculated.

Speed (mph) Class width Frequency Frequency Density

3
0 ≤ v < 30 30 3 = 0.1
30
17
30 ≤ v < 40 10 17 = 1.7
10
21
40 ≤ v < 45 5 21 = 4.2
5
28
45 ≤ v < 50 5 28 = 5.6
5
32
50 ≤ v < 70 20 32 = 1.6
20

(a) The histogram is shown below.

4
Frequency
density
3

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Speed (mph)

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(b) (i) 32 motorists may be breaking the law. (All the motorists may have been
driving at more then 50 mph, as this interval goes up to 70 mph.)
(ii) No motorists must have been breaking the law. (As the interval starts at
50 mph it is possible, although unlikely, that all of the motorists were
driving at exactly 50 mph!)

Worked Example 2
The histogram below shows the results of a survey into the height of children in a school.

3 HeightofofChildren
Heights children

Frequency
density
1

0
120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190
Heights (cm)
(a) Find the number of children with heights between:
(i) 120 and 140 cm, (ii) 170 and 175 cm.
(b) Find the total number of children measured.

Solution
(a) (i) For the 120 to 140 cm interval:
Frequency Density = 1.2
Class Width = 20
Frequency = 20 × 1.2
= 24 children
(ii) For the 170 to 175 cm interval:
Frequency Density = 2.4
Class Width = 5

Frequency = 5 × 2.4
= 12 children
(b) To find the total, the numbers in each class interval must be found and added
together.
Total = 20 × 1.2 + 10 × 1.8 + 15 × 2.2 + 5 × 2.8 + 5 × 2.4 + 5 × 1.8 + 10 × 1.1

= 24 + 18 + 33 + 14 + 12 + 9 + 11

= 121

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Exercises
1. For a project in Biology, Sharma gathered data on the length of leaves from a tree
and drew the histogram below.

Lengths of leaves
3.0
Frequency
density
2.0

1.0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Length (cm)
(a) How many leaves had a length less than 6 cm?
(b) How many leaves had a length greater than 9 cm?
(c) How many leaves did she measure?

2. Jennifer collected data on the length of time it took her to travel to school. She
drew the histogram below.

Time taken to travel to school

2

Frequency
density
1

0
5 10 15 20 25 30
Time taken (mins)
This histogram contains an error. What is it?

3. Fred often travels by train. He kept a record of the time he had to wait when
telephoning his local railway station to enquire about train times.

Waiting time (mins) Frequency

0 < t ≤ 0.5 8
0.5 < t ≤ 1.0 10
1.0 < t ≤ 3.0 15
3.0 < t ≤ 4.0 12
4.0 < t ≤ 5.0 3

Draw a histogram to show this data.

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4. A teacher recorded all the scores of the students who took a maths test in his
school. These scores are summarised in the table below.

Score Frequency

0 ≤ t < 35 3
35 ≤ t < 40 7
40 ≤ t < 55 20
55 ≤ t < 70 42
70 ≤ t ≤ 100 16

Draw a histogram for this data.

5. A survey was carried out to find the weekly income of a group of Year 11 pupils.
The income includes pocket money and wages from part-time jobs.

Income (£) Frequency

0 < I ≤ 10 8
10 < I ≤ 15 24
15 < I ≤ 20 19
20 < I ≤ 40 7

Draw a histogram to show this data.

6. The distribution of the ages of inhabitants of a village is shown in the table below.

Age Frequency

0-4 10
5-9 12
10 - 19 19
20 - 39 36
40 - 59 30
60 - 64 9
65 - 79 11
80 - 99 3

(a) Explain why the width of the first class interval is 5.

(b) Find the width of all the other class intervals.
(c) Draw a histogram to show this data.

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7. The finishing times to the nearest minute for the competitors in a half-marathon to
complete the race are given below.

135 103 123 116 177 101

107 117 126 117 156 133
127 95 134 110 201 115
202 113 170 105 132 105
155 98 137 115 129 117
152 93 116 92 152 97
169 112 163 124 151 143
160 121 176 100 84 114
122 98 96 118 153 112
153 136 123 80 170 109

Group the data into suitable intervals and draw a histogram.

8. A GCSE examiner recorded the time that it took to mark the essays students wrote
in an exam. The times are in this table.

Time (mins) Frequency

10 - 12 9
13 - 18 24
19 - 20 21
21 - 30 16
31 - 45 3

(a) State the width of each class interval.

(b) Draw a histogram to show this data.

9. The age of each person in a coach party is illustrated in the histogram below.

Frequency
density

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Age

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There are 6 people in the 70-80 age range.
(a) How many people are there in the 45-50 age range?
(b) How many people are there in the 50-70 age range?
(SEG)

10. A sample was taken of the telephone calls to a school switchboard. The lengths of
the telephone calls are recorded, in minutes, in this table.

Time in minutes (t) 0 <t ≤1 1 <t ≤3 3 <t ≤5 5 < t ≤ 10 10 < t ≤ 20

Number of calls 12 32 19 20 15

Copy and complete the histogram to show this information.

20

15
Frequency
per 1 minute
interval
10

0
0 5 10 15 20
Time in minutes (t)
(MEG)

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11. The histogram below represents the number of spectators at professional football
matches one Saturday.
Frequency
Density

0 10 000 20 000 30 000 40 000

Attendance
No match had more than 40 000 spectators.
At 4 matches the number of spectators was greater than or equal to 10 000 and less
than 15 000.
(a) Use the information in the histogram to complete a copy of the frequency
table below.

Number of spectators (n) Frequency

0 ≤ n < 3000

3000 ≤ n < 5000

5000 ≤ n < 10 000

10 000 ≤ n < 15 000 4

15 000 ≤ n < 30 000

30 000 ≤ n < 40 000

(b) Calculate the total number of professional football matches played in

England on that Saturday. (LON)
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