4.

Graphical Representation of Data

Representation: A representation refers to the type of graph, table, diagram, or model

that is used to display data. The representations that are included in this course include:

Frequency tables
Tables
Bar graphs
Circle graphs

Line graphs
Stem-and-leaf plots
Scatter plots
Histograms

1. Frequency table: A frequency table is a table that indicates the number of times an
observation or category occurs. There are different types of frequency tables. The type
described in Example 4.1 is called an absolute frequency table.
Example 1.1 Halloween Candy:
The Number of Candy Bars Students Brought to
School the Day after Halloween
Number of
Candy Bars
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Number of
Students
1
1
1
3
0
4
2
1
2

Reads as Four
students each had 5
candy bars.

2. Line plot: A line plot is a representation in which Xs, symbols, or objects are used
to show a frequency along a number line.
Example 2.1 Line plot with key:

One student has no candy

bars, 1 student has one
candy bar, 1 student has two
candy bars, 3 students have
three candy bars, no student
has four candy bars, and so
on.

Example 2.2 Line plot with a label on the vertical axis and no key:
Number line

3. Bar graph: A bar graph is a representation that is used to make comparisons among
groups. Bar graphs are constructed using horizontal or vertical bars of equal widths. The
heights (lengths) are equal to the values (e.g., counts, percents, temperature scales) being
represented. While bar graphs are used to display both categorical data (e.g., countries,
favorite colors, months, eye color, ages, and favorite whole number) and discrete
numerical data it is one of the most common ways to display categorical data. An
important characteristic of a bar graph displaying categorical data is that there is not
always one correct order in which to put the categories.
Example 3.1 Bar graph categorical data (countries) with counts:
Counts

The order in which the

bars are constructed
does not change the
meaning of the data.

Example 3.2 Bar graph categorical data (countries) with percents:

Example
3.3
Multiple
bars to
compare
within
and
across
sets of
data:

Example 3.4 Bar graph representing discrete numerical data:

Mrs. Plums Class

Name
Barbara

4.Histogram: A histogram is a graphical representation of frequency

distributions (e.g., counts, percents) used to compare groups in which the
groups have values that are continuous and can be ordered from least to
greatest. Some variables that can be represented using histograms include ages,
heights, test scores, and times.

Percent*
94

Beth

61

Bob

62

Brian

84

Chris

80

Frank

93

Hannah

84

Ian

88

Karen

84

Kim

51

Marge

72

Nick

98

Patty

96

Phil

71

Ralph

53

Richard

89

Sam

60

Sam R.

87

Sonia

97

Ted

72

*Percents rounded to the

A histogram is constructed of contiguous rectangles (rectangles touching each
nearest whole percent
other) with:
widths of the rectangles representing numerical intervals (groups) that are
determined by the person who organizes the histogram (See examples 7.2 and
7.3.);

widths of the rectangles proportional to the size of the respective intervals (e.g., If
all the numerical intervals are the same length, then the widths of the rectangles are the same
length. However, if, for example, one interval spans 10 years and another interval spans 20 years,
then the width of the rectangle representing 20 years is twice as long as the width of the rectangle
representing 10 years.); and

areas of the rectangles proportional to the percent or frequency (height of

rectangle).
Test
Score
Intervals
50 59
60 69
70 79
80 89
90 99

Frequency
2
3
3
7
5

Example 4.1 Histogram with class intervals equal in size (10 percentage points):

Test Scores (Percents)

The area of each rectangle is

proportional to the frequency of
its respective class. (i.e., The
area of each rectangle is ten
times the frequency.)

Example 4.2 Histogram with class intervals equal in size (10 percent points)
with intervals on a
scale:
Test
Score
Intervals
5059
6069
7079
8089
9099

Frequency
2
3
3
7
5

When interpreting histograms with a scale

the typical convention is to include the left
endpoint in the interval and exclude the right
endpoint (e.g., Test scores 50, 51, 52, 53, 54,
55, 56, 57, 58, and 59 are included in the first
bar in the graph, but not test score 60. Test
score 60 is included in the second bar of the
graph).

Example 4.3 Histogram with class intervals equal in size (5 percentage points)
with intervals on a scale:
Whoever organizes the
histogram decides the
length of the intervals.

Test
Score
Intervals
50 54
55 59
60 64
65 69
70 74
75 79
80 84
85 89
90 94
95 99

Frequency
2
0
3
0
3
0
4
3
2
3

5. Circle graph (Pie Graph): A circle graph is a pictorial representation used to

compare parts of a whole. The area of the circle represents the whole and is divided into
pieces called sectors that represent parts of a whole. The size of the sector is determined
by the percent of the whole that its respective categories represent.

Each sector is
a part of the
whole (water
on earth).

Example 5.1 Circle graph:

6. Stem-and-leaf plot: A stem-and-leaf plot organizes data to

show their shape and distribution. Each data value is split into a
stem and a leaf. Typically, the stem is the first digit(s) of a data
value and the leaf is the last digit of the data value.
(e.g., If 27 is a data value, then 2 is the stem and 7 is the leaf.)

Example 6.1 Mathematics Test Scores Mrs. Plum and Mr. Scarlet:
Mr. Scarlet and Mrs. Plum gave the same test to two different classes.
The results from the tests are organized into the tables and stem-and-leaf
plots below.

Mr. Scarlets
class
Name

Mrs. Plums class

Name
Barbara

e.g., 51
represents 51%

5
6
7
8
9

Stems

Mrs. Plums Class

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

Leaves
6
7
8
9

Mr. Scarlets Class

5, 8, 8, 8
0, 0, 0, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9
0, 1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 8
7, 8

Stem-and-leaf plots concisely organize

large amounts of data in a way that
reveals the distribution of the data, the
mode, and provides an easy way to
determine the median of the data set.

Percent*
94

Beth

61

Bob

62

Brian

84

Chris

80

Frank

93

Hannah

84

Ian

88

Karen

84

Kim

51

Marge

72

Nick

98

Patty

96

Phil

71

Ralph

53

Richard

89

Sam

60

Sam R.

87

Sonia

97

Ted

72

*Percents rounded to the

nearest whole percent

7. Line graph: A line graph is typically used to represent serial data

(data that can be collected without gaps such as change in temperature over
a time period). Typically, observations are made over regular intervals.
Then, these discrete points are plotted and adjacent points are connected
with line segments to indicate the serial nature of the data and allow for
interpolation.

Percent*

Beth

97

Bob

76

Brian

78

Chris

65

Darlene

76

Debbie

70

Glenn

70

Ian

85

Kim

68

Lee

70

Leslie

80

Lorie

79

Lucinda

81

Marilyn

88

Mike

68

Mike R.

76

Nick

85

Ralph

98

Richard

82

Ted

68

Tom

88

*Percents rounded to the

nearest whole percent

Time of Temperature
Day
(F)
8:00 A.M.
60
9:00 A.M.
62
10:00 A.M.
70
11:00 A.M.
75
12:00 P.M.
76
1:00 P.M.
78
2:00 P.M.
77
3:00 P.M.
74
4:00 P.M.
70
5:00 P.M.
66
6:00 P.M.
50
7:00 P.M.
50
8:00 P.M.
45

Example 7.1 Line Graph:

Average Daily Maximum Temperatures (Degrees Fahrenheit): Providence, RI

J
37

F
38

M
46

A
57

(19611990)
M
J
J
A
67
77
82
81

S
74

Example 9.2 Broken Line Graph:

O
64

N
53

D
41

A broken line graph can be used

to show the trends in non-serial
data, such as the average daily
maximum temperatures from
month to month. The line is
broken because the data points
are NOT serial as in Example
12.1. That is, drawing a line
between any two points would
imply that an average daily
maximum temperature exists, for
example, for some month
between January and February.

Example 9.3 Double line graph:

Ice Cream
Consumption Price
(Pints
(per Temperature
consumed pint in
(degrees
per capita) dollars) Fahrenheit)

8. Scatter plot: Scatter plots are plots of observations that are used to
determine if there is a relationship between two variables being studied.
Scatter plots help to answer questions about how two variables are related to
each other (e.g., Is there a relationship between the amount of time students
watch TV and their grades?).
Examples contain data collected over 30 four-week periods from March 18,
1951 to July 11, 1953.
Example 10.1 Relationship of Ice Cream Consumed to Price of Ice
Cream:
The question being asked in this example was Is ice cream consumption
dependent upon price?

0.386

0.270

41

0.374

0.282

56

0.393

0.277

63

0.425

0.280

68

0.406

0.272

69

0.344

0.262

65

0.327

0.275

61

0.288

0.267

47

0.269

0.265

32

0.256

0.277

24

0.286

0.282

26

0.298

0.270

26

0.329

0.272

32

0.318

0.287

40

0.381

0.277

55

0.381

0.287

63

0.470

0.280

72

0.443

0.277

72

0.386

0.277

67

0.342

0.277

60

0.319

0.292

44

0.307

0.287

40

0.284

0.277

32

0.326

0.285

27

0.309

0.282

28

0.359

0.265

33

0.376

0.265

41

0.416

0.265

52

0.437

0.268

64

0.548

0.260

71

There does not appear to

be any discernable trend
in the data.

10

Example 10.2 Relationship of Ice Cream Consumed to Air Temperature:

The question being asked in this example was Is there a relationship between air
temperature and the amount of ice cream consumed?
In general, as the
temperature increases
from 24F to 72F, so
does ice cream
consumption.

Note: Additional studies were conducted to determine if other variables have an impact on ice cream
consumption, including Lag-Temp (Temp lagged by one time period) and Year, which were both significant
predictors of ice cream consumption. For more information about the study go to

9. Estimated line of best fit: A line that can be drawn through the data points on a
scatter plot that represents the best approximation of the trend reflected in the data1. The
line can then be used to make predictions.
Example 11.1 Estimated line of best fit (Data from Examples 10.2):
An ice cream company would be very interested in the data from the study in Example
13.2. However, they would not just be interested in the fact that there is a trend, but
they would want to use the data to determine how much ice cream to produce at
different times of the year for different regions of the country (or world) based upon

. A property of a line of best fit known as the least squares regression line is that the sum of the errors (difference
between the actual points and the points on the line for given x-values) is zero. This means that half of the error is below
the line and half of the error is above the line. Estimating this line leads to an appropriate estimated line of best fit.

11

regional temperatures2. To make a prediction about production, find an estimated line

of best fit and use it to make a prediction by interpolating the values along the line at a
given point.
Estimated line of
best fit
Interpolation: Based
on the estimated line of
best fit, at 50 F
approximately 0.36
pints of ice cream per
capita would be
consumed.

http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/DASL/Stories/IceCreamConsumption.htm .

An ice cream company would have collected many more data points over longer periods of time than were collected in
this study to make this type of decision. However, this example is used for illustrative purposes.

12

10. Outlier: An outlier is a data point that is widely separated from the general
distribution of a set of data.
Example 13.1 Scatter plot showing the general distribution of a set of data with
an outlier:

Outlier
The heght
ofd 12 year
old boys

The 12 year old

boy who is 5 10
is an outlier for
this set of data.

Data set constructed based on National Center for Health Statistics Growth Chart
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set2/chart%2007.pdf.

13