A dot plot is a way to represent numerical data in which each data point is represented with a dot above a horizontal number line. The dots representing the same measurements are stacked above each other. Consider the following data set: { 4, 4, 3, 1, 4, 4, 1, 4 }
Sarah likes the candy Frutty. They are sold in packs of thirty, with the different flavors: apple, orange, and banana. Sarah wanted to know how many banana-flavored candies there are in each pack. She bought ten packs and counted the number of banana bars in each. Her results are as follows. 10,8,10,9,12,9,10,10,12,10 Draw a dot plot to represent the data.
First, we should notice the minimum and maximum values of the data set. It can be seen that they are 8 and 12, respetively. We can draw a horizontal number line for the dot plot from 7 to 13.
Next, we can mark a dot for each data point one by one until all points are marked.
From the dot plot, we can see that several packs had 10 banana-flavored candies and none had 11.
A histogram is a graphical illustration of a data set.
Say a certain fruit store wants to examine the weights of the apples they sell. To see the distribution, it is not necessary to show each apple's weight individually; instead, the apples can be grouped by their weights in intervals: 70-79g, 80-89g, and so on.
When drawing a histogram, it is necessary to first decide the intervals. Each interval must have the same length and all data points must lie in an interval. Consider the following data set. 13,11,4,11,21,25,37,17,8,19,26,15 One method to find a suitable number of intervals is to take the square root of the number of data points. Here that number is 12=3.46410… Thus, the histogram can have either three or four intervals. Here, it will have four. Next, it is necessary to determine the size of the intervals. Since the lowest data value in the set is 4 and the highest is 37, using four intervals with a range of 10 will encompass all data points. The intervals are then 1−10,11−20,21−30,and31−40. Next it is recommended to make a frequency table showing how many data points lie in each interval.
Interval | Frequency |
---|---|
1−10 | 2 |
11−20 | 6 |
21−30 | 3 |
31−40 | 1 |
From the frequency table, the histogram can be constructed by drawing a bar over each interval a height corresponding to the frequency.