Learning About Charts Using Integer Bars

 

 

Charts

Have you ever heard the expression "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Many times it is easier to understand data by looking at a picture or a chart that shows data or numbers visually. Let's start with a simple example where we will make a chart to show the number of students of different ages in a classroom. The following table shows the data that we will put into the chart.

Age
Number of students
7
1
8
3
9
26
10
2
Total = 32 students

As you can see most of the students in the classroom are 9 years old. There is only one student who is 7, 3 students who are 8, and 2 students that are 10. To visualize this we will make a chart using the integer bars.

This chart shows two axes, one horizontal axis labeled X and one vertical axis labeled Y. The X-axis shows the age of the students and the Y-axis shows the number of students for each age.

It is easier to look at this chart instead of the table above to see that most students are 9 years old. This is a very simple chart but when there is a larger table with more data it is even easier to visualize it by using a chart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our next example we will draw a chart that shows how students performed on a test. There are 32 students in a class who take an exam with ten problems and the possible grades are 0-10. The following table shows the final results.

Grade
Number of students
0
0
1
0
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
1
6
5
7
8
8
11
9
6
10
1

The chart below shows the data in the table. The X-axis shows the grades received on the exam and the Y-axis shows the number of students that received each grade. Looking at the chart it is very easy to see how the students did on their exam.

Our last example contains more data than our first two examples. The data used in this example is based on real data. It shows the average height for boys in the U.S. for ages 2-20 years old. This time we will draw the chart first and here it is. On this chart the X-axis shows the age and the Y-axis shows the average height in inches.

  1. Can you tell that the average height of boys continues to increase at a regular rate until the age of 16?
  2. Can you tell that the average growth slows down after age 16?
  3. Does this chart help you understand the typical growth of boys?
  4. The average growth of boys from age 5 to 10 years is 12 inches. What is the average growth from age 10 to 15? What is the average growth from age 15 to 20? Isn't it interesting that the average growth slows down as people get older?

Now here is the table with the same data as shown in the chart above.

Age
Height (inches)
2
34
3
37
4
40
5
43
6
45
7
48
8
50
9
53
10
55
11
57
12
59
13
62
14
65
15
67
16
68
17
69
18
69
19
70
20
70

Exercises

   <- Click on this image to start the applet
  1. Make a chart that shows the data in the following table. This table shows how many pets each of the 32 students have.

    Number of Pets
    Number of Students
    0
    3
    1
    7
    2
    14
    3
    5
    4
    2
    5
    1
    6
    0
    7
    0

  2. Make a chart that shows the data in the following table. This table shows the favorite candies that each of the 57 students in two classes likes.

    Candy
    Number of Students
    (1) Milky Way
    8
    (2) Snickers
    17
    (3) Almond Joy
    1
    (4) M & M's
    18
    (5) Lifesavers
    4
    (6) Jolly Rancher
    9

  3. The following chart shows how many soccer goals Suzie scored in each of her first 10 games.

                    
    Now we have a few questions for you.
    1. How many goals did Suzie score in Game 7?
    2. At what point did she start improving a lot?
    3. Did she ever score fewer goals than in a previous game?
    4. What is the total number of goals Suzie scored in all 10 games?
    5. What is her average number of goals per game? To get the average you divide the total number of goals by the total number of games.

After you have answered all of the problems, check your answers.

 


Learning About Geometry Using Integer Bars
Table of Contents
Learning Basic Algebra Using Integer Bars

 

Last Updated: Friday, 25-Jul-2003 17:34:03 GMT


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