OBJECTIVES
Statistical data representation
Dot Plots
Bar Graph
Line Graph
Histogram and Frequency Polygon
Statistical data representation
Dot Plots
The dot plot is one of the simplest ways of graphical
representation of the statistical data. As the name itself
suggests, a dot plot uses the dots. It is a graphic display
which usually compares frequency within different
categories.
The dot plot is composed of dots that are to be plotted on a
graph paper.
A dot plot may look like:
Example 1: Draw a dot plot for the following data.
Favorite Colors Red Blue Green Yellow Orange Indigo Violet
Number of Students 9 7 5 3 2 1 3
Solution:
The line graph for the following data is given
below:
Bar Graph
A bar graph is a very frequently used graph in statistics as well as in
media. A bar
graph is a type of graph which contains rectangles or rectangular bars.
The lengths of these bars should be proportional to the numerical values
represented by them. In bar graph, the bars may be plotted either
horizontally or vertically. But a vertical bar graph (also known as
column bar graph) is used more than a horizontal one.
A vertical bar graph is shown below:
Number of students went to different states for study:
The rectangular bars are separated by some distance in order
to distinguish them from one another. The bar graph shows
comparison among the given categories.
Mostly, horizontal axis of the graph represents specific
categories and vertical axis shows the discrete numerical
values.
Example 2: Plot a bar graph from the data given below.
Students A B C D
Marks 8 14 9 5
Solution:
The following bar graph is obtained:
Line Graph
A line graph is a kind of graph which represents data in a way that a series of
points are to be connected by segments of straight lines. In a line graph, the data
points are plotted on a graph and they are joined together with straight line.
A sample line graph is illustrated in the following diagram:
The line graphs are used in the science, statistics and media. Line graphs are very
easy to create. These are quite popular in comparison with other graphs since they
visualize characteristics revealing data trends very clearly. A line graph gives a
clear visual comparison between two variables which are represented on X-axis
and
TestY-axis.
Score 24-30 30-36 36-42 42-48 48-54 54-60
Frequency 5 6 8 5 10 4
Solution: 3: Draw a histogram from the given data.
Example
We drew the following histogram:
Histogram and Frequency Polygon
The histograms and frequency polygons are very common graphs in statistics. A
histogram is defined as a graphical representation of the mutually exclusive
events. A histogram is quite similar to the bar graph. Both are made up of
rectangular bars. The difference is that there is no gap between any two bars in
the histogram. The histogram is used to represent the continuous data.
A histogram may look like the following graph:
The frequency polygon is a type of graphical representation which gives us better understanding of the shape of given
distribution. Frequency polygons serve almost the similar purpose as histograms do.
et us have a look at a sample of frequency polygon: