Chapter 2

Graphs, Charts, and Tables – Describing Your

Data
Chapter Goals
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
 Construct a frequency distribution both manually and with a
computer
 Construct and interpret a histogram
 Create and interpret bar charts, pie charts, and stem-and-leaf
diagrams
 Present and interpret data in line charts and scatter diagrams

Frequency Distributions
What is a Frequency Distribution?
 A frequency distribution is a list or a table …
 containing the values of a variable (or a set of ranges within
which the data fall) ...
 and the corresponding frequencies with which each value occurs
(or frequencies with which data fall within each range)
Why Use Frequency Distributions?
 A frequency distribution is a way to summarize data
 The distribution condenses the raw data into a more useful
form...
 and allows for a quick visual interpretation of the data
Frequency Distribution: Discrete Data

 Discrete data: possible values are countable

Number of days
Example: An read
Frequency
advertiser asks 0 44
200 customers 1 24
how many days 2 18
per week they 3 16
read the daily 4 20
newspaper. 5 22
6 26
7 30
Total 200
 Relative Frequency

Relative Frequency: What proportion is in each category?

Number of days Relative
Frequency
read Frequency
44
0 44 .22 = .22
1 24 .12 200
2 18 .09 22% of the
3 16 .08 people in the
4 20 .10 sample report
5 22 .11
6 26 .13
that they read
7 30 .15 the newspaper
Total 200 1.00

Frequency Distribution: Continuous Data

 Continuous Data: may take on any value in some interval

Example: A manufacturer of insulation randomly selects 20 winter days

and records the daily high temperature
24, 35, 17, 21, 24, 37, 26, 46, 58, 30,
32, 13, 12, 38, 41, 43, 44, 27, 53, 27

(Temperature is a continuous variable because it could

be measured to any degree of precision desired)

Grouping Data by Classes

Sort raw data in ascending order:
12, 13, 17, 21, 24, 24, 26, 27, 27, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44,
46, 53, 58
 Find range: 58 - 12 = 46
 Select number of classes: 5 (usually between 5 and 20)
 Compute class width: 10 (46/5 then round off)
 Determine class boundaries:10, 20, 30, 40, 50
 Compute class midpoints: 15, 25, 35, 45, 55
 Count observations & assign to classes
Frequency Distribution Example
 Data in ordered array:
12, 13, 17, 21, 24, 24, 26, 27, 27, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 53, 58

Frequency Distribution

Class Frequency Relative

Frequency

10 but under 20 3 .15

20 but under 30 6 .30
30 but under 40 5 .25
40 but under 50 4 .20
50 but under 60 2 .10
Total 20 1.00

Histograms
 The classes or intervals are shown on the horizontal axis
 frequency is measured on the vertical axis

 Bars of the appropriate heights can be used to represent the

number of observations within each class

 Such a graph is called a histogram

Histogram Example

Histogram
7 6
6 5
Frequency

5 4 No gaps
4 3 between
3 2 bars, since
2
continuous
1 0 0 data
0
5 15 25 36 45 55 More
Class Midpoints
Questions for Grouping Data into Classes
 1. How wide should each interval be?
(How many classes should be used?)
  2. How should the endpoints of the intervals be
determined?
 Often answered by trial and error, subject to user
judgment
 The goal is to create a distribution that is neither too
"jagged" nor too "blocky”
 Goal is to appropriately show the pattern of variation
in the data
How Many Class Intervals?

3.5
 Many (Narrow class intervals) 3

 may yield a very jagged distribution 2.5

Frequency
with gaps from empty classes 2
1.5
 Can give a poor indication of how
1
frequency varies across classes
0.5
0

4
8

28

36

56
12
16
20
24

32

40
44
48
52

60
More
 Few (Wide class intervals)
Temperature
 may compress variation too much
12
and yield a blocky distribution
10
 can obscure important patterns of
8
variation.
Frequency

6 (X axis labels are upper class endpoints)

2
0
0 30 60 More
Temperature

General Guidelines
 Class widths can typically be reduced as the number of
observations increases
 Distributions with numerous observations are more likely to
be smooth and have gaps filled since data are plentiful

 Number of Data Points Number of Classes

under 50 5- 7
50 – 100 6 - 10
 100 – 250 7 - 12
over 250 10 - 20

Class Width
The class width is the distance between the lowest possible value and
the highest possible value for a frequency class

The minimum class width is

Largest Value - Smallest Value

W = Number of Classes

Histograms in Excel

1
Select
Tools/Data Analysis

2
Choose Histogram

3
Input data and bin ranges

Select Chart Output

Stem and Leaf Diagram
 A simple way to see distribution details in a data set

METHOD: Separate the sorted data series

into leading digits (the stem) and
the trailing digits (the leaves)
Example:

Data in ordered array:

12, 13, 17, 21, 24, 24, 26, 27, 27, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 53, 58

 Here, use the 10’s digit for the stem unit:

Stem Leaf
 12 is shown as 1 2

 35 is shown as 3 5

Data in ordered array:

12, 13, 17, 21, 24, 24, 26, 27, 27, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 53, 58

 Completed Stem-and-leaf diagram:

Stem Leaves
1 2 3 7
2 1 4 4 6 7 8
3 0 2 5 7 8
4 1 3 4 6
5 3 8
Using other stem units

 Using the 100’s digit as the stem:

 Round off the 10’s digit to form the leaves

Stem Leaf
 613 would become 6 1
 776 would become 7 8
 ...
 1224 becomes 12 2
Graphing Categorical Data

Categorical
Data

Pie Bar Pareto

Bar and Pie Charts
Charts Charts Diagram
 Bar charts and Pie charts are often used for qualitative (category)
data

 Height of bar or size of pie slice shows the frequency or

percentage for each category

Bar Chart Example

Investor's Portfolio

Savings
CD
Bonds
Stocks

0 10 20 30 40 50
Amount in $1000's
 Pie Chart Example

Current Investment Portfolio

Investment Amount Percentage Savings
Type (in thousands $)
15%
Stocks 46.5 42.27 Stocks
Bonds 32.0 29.09 42%
CD
CD 15.5 14.09 14%
Savings 16.0 14.55
Total 110 100

Bonds Percentages
(Variables are Qualitative) are rounded to
Pareto Diagram Example 29% the nearest
percent
45% 100%

40% 90%
% invested in each category

80%
cumulative % invested
35%

70%
30%
(bar graph)

(line graph)

60%
25%
50%
20%
40%

15%
30%

10%
20%

Number of Frequency
5%
days read 10%

0
Bar 44 Example
Chart
0%
Stocks Bonds Savings CD
0%

1 24
2 18
3 16
4 20
5 22
6 26
7 30
Total 200
 Newspaper readership per week

50
40

Freuency
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of days newspaper is read per week

Tabulating and Graphing Multivariate Categorical Data

 Investment in thousands of dollars
Investment Investor A Investor B Investor C Total
Category

Stocks 46.5 55 27.5 129

Bonds 32.0 44 19.0 95
CD 15.5 20 13.5 49
Savings 16.0 28 7.0 51
Side byTotal
side charts 110.0 147 67.0 324

Comparing Investors

Savings
CD
Bonds
Stocks

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Investor A Investor B Investor C

 Sales by quarter for three sales territories:

 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
East 20.4 27.4 59 20.4
West 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6
North 45.9 46.9 45 43.9

60

50

40
East
30 West
North
20

10

0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Line Charts and Scatter Diagrams

 Line charts show values of one variable vs. time
 Time is traditionally shown on the horizontal axis

 Scatter Diagrams show points for bivariate data

 one variable is measured on the vertical axis and the other
variable is measured on the horizontal axis
Line Chart Example
 U.S. Inflation Rate
6

Inflation Rate (%)

5

0
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

Year

Scatter Diagram Example

Production Volume vs. Cost per Day

250
200
Cost per Day

150
100
50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Volume per Day

Chapter Summary
 Data in raw form are usually not easy to use for decision making
-- Some type of organization is needed:
♦ Table ♦ Graph
 Techniques reviewed in this chapter:
 Frequency Distributions and Histograms
 Bar Charts and Pie Charts
 Stem and Leaf Diagrams
 Line Charts and Scatter Diagrams