Graphing Hints

Here are the most common graphs you will use in class and for science fair.  Following the explanations are two websites that may help you with graphing.

Bar - This graph shows the differences in individual values horizontally. It is not a good choice for showing values in different time periods. It works better for showing the results of one or two data series. One example would be to show the popularity of the top eight answers to a survey question.
Line - This graph shows values at different points in time. It is usually best to have equal time intervals along the horizontal axis of the graph. One example would be to show the trend in the number of customer service calls handled by the five offices each month over the last year. A line graph can display many (4-6) data series quite well.
Pie - This graph shows the proportions of each segment of a whole. This graph only handles one data series. An example would be to show the proportion of funding provided to the organization by each level of government in the past year.

   Create A Graph! - Helps you to create a graph

   Using Graphs and Tables on Presentation Slides - Offers hints about which

        graph is appropriate for your data

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Tuesday September 05, 2006