Representing and Interpreting Data
Representing and Interpreting Data
interpreting data
Contents
Number of
absences
74
53
32
10
11
11
10
Contents
Pie charts
A pie chart is a circle divided up into sectors which are
representative of the data.
In a pie chart, each category is shown as a fraction of the
circle.
For example, in a
survey half the people
asked drove to work, a
quarter walked and a
quarter went by bus.
Pie charts
This pie chart shows the distribution of drinks sold in a
cafeteria on a particular day.
Drinks sold in a cafeteria
coffee
soft drinks
tea
75
Soft drinks: 50
Tea:
175
Number of people
The Guardian
Daily Mirror
The Times
The Sun
Daily Express
No of people
Working
Angle
The Guardian
8 12
96
Daily Mirror
7 12
84
The Times
3 12
36
The Sun
6 12
72
Daily Express
6 12
72
Total
30
360
No of people
The Guardian
Daily Mirror
The Times
The Sun
Daily Express
Total
30
Working
8
30
7
30
3
30
6
30
6
30
Angle
360
96
360
84
360
36
360
72
360
72
360
No of
people
Red
10
Yellow
Blue
14
Green
Purple
Total
36
No of
people
UK
74
Europe
53
America
32
Asia
11
Other
10
Total
180
Prawn
cocktail
55
Smokey
bacon
35
Salt and
135
vinegar 85
50
Cheese
and
onion
Ready
salted
Contents
Frequency diagrams
Frequency diagrams are used to display grouped
continuous data.
For example, this frequency diagram shows the distribution of
heights in a group of Year 8 pupils:
Heights of Year 8 pupils
35
Frequency
30
25
20
The divisions
between the bars
are labelled.
15
10
5
0
140
145
150
155
160
Height (cm)
165
170
175
Number
of people
0h<1
1h<2
2h<3
3h<4
4h<5
h5
4
6
8
5
3
1
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Line graphs
Line graphs are most often used to show trends over time.
For example, this line graph shows the temperature in
London, in C, over a 12-hour period.
Temperature (C)
Temperature in London
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm
Time
Line graphs
This line graph compares the percentage of boys and girls
gaining A* to C passes at GCSE in a particular school.
Percentage of boys and girls gaining A* to C passes at GCSE
70
60
50
40
Girls
Boys
30
20
10
0
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Weight
(kg)
9.5
12.0
14.2
16.3
18.4
Contents
Scatter graphs
We can use scatter graphs to find out if there is any
relationship or correlation between two set of data.
Handspan (cm)
18
16
20
15
16
21
19
17
20
18
24
21
28
20
22
30
25
22
27
23
Science score
Temperature(C)
14
16
20
19
23
21
25
22
18
18
10
14
20
22
19
22
30
15
16
19
3.5
1.5 2.5
3
0.5
Contents
Comparing distributions
The distribution of a set of data describes how the data is
spread out.
Two distributions can be compared using one of the three
averages and the range.
For example, the number of cars sold by two salesmen each
day for a week is shown below.
Matt
Jamie
12
Comparing distributions
Matt
Jamie
12
Comparing distributions
Matt
Jamie
12
This distribution
is skewed to
the left.
This distribution
is skewed to
the right.
This distribution
is random.
Group D
Frequency
Group C
Frequency
Group B
Frequency
Frequency
Group A