1.

1 Constructing and Interpreting

Visual Displays of Data

“More people are born in the spring than in the fall.”

In order to draw general conclusions, such as the one above, information must
be gathered, organized, and displayed clearly.
population—refers to When information is gathered from all people in a population, the activity
the entire group about is called a census. For example, every five years, Statistics Canada takes a
which data are being
collected
census of the population. The first census of the millennium was on May 15, 2001.
The results from that census were released beginning in the spring of 2002.
data—information A poll (or opinion survey) is a method of collecting data from a sample
providing the basis of a of a population by asking people to give their answers to a set of questions.
discussion from which
conclusions may be drawn; Once collected, the data are then organized in a meaningful way so that valid
data often take the form conclusions can be made.
of numbers that can be
displayed graphically or in
a table
Example 1 Organizing Data: Frequency Tables
sample—part of a The members of a Grade 12 class were asked on what day of the week they were
population that is selected
to gain information about born. The results were as follows:
the whole population Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Monday, Friday, Friday, Tuesday,
frequency—the number Thursday, Wednesday, Saturday, Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,
of times an event occurs or Monday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, Tuesday,
the number of items in a
given category
Wednesday, Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday,
Sunday, Monday
frequency table—a (a) Organize the data in a frequency table.
table listing a variable
together with the (b) How many students responded to the question?
frequency of each value (c) What percent of the students were born on weekends?

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 3

 Solution

(a)
Day Tally Frequency
Monday 4
Tuesday 7
Wednesday 6
Thursday 6
Friday 3
Saturday 3
Sunday 1

(b) Total number of students  4  7  6  6  3  3  1

 30
number born on weekend
(c) Percent born on a weekend  
total number of students
4
 30  100%
 13.3%

Example 2 Organizing Data: Frequency Tables and

Stem-and-Leaf Plots
The heights of the members of two high school classes were measured in
centimetres. The results were as follows:
136, 156, 172, 160, 175, 186, 187, 122, 186, 157, 153, 130, 164, 143, 181,
186, 176, 184, 193, 136, 122, 120, 184, 186, 176, 181, 167, 164, 149, 186,
155, 192, 174, 184, 156, 164, 181, 186, 172, 181, 163, 190, 188, 182, 174,
157, 152, 183, 171, 156
stem-and-leaf plot— (a) Display the data using a stem-and-leaf plot.
a way of organizing and
presenting a collection of
(b) Use your answer to part (a) to set up a frequency table using class intervals.
numbers (c) How is the frequency table in part (b) different from the stem-and-leaf plot?
(d) Explain why class intervals are more useful than individual measurements.

4 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

 Solution

(a) The set of numbers is rewritten, with each of the hundreds and tens digits
becoming a stem and the units digits becoming the leaves. The leaves are
entered in numerical order to produce a stem-and-leaf plot.
Stem Leaf
12 022
13 066
This branch
represents the 14 39
numbers 143 and
149. 15 23566677
16 034447
The units digits
17 12244566 are called the
leaves.
18 11112344466666678
The hundreds and
tens digits are 19 023
called the stems.

class interval—a (b) A reasonable class interval for this data Class Interval Frequency
category or division used is a spread of 10 units. Given that the
for grouping a set of 120–129 3
observations
smallest value is 120 and the largest value
is 193, the intervals to best display this 130–139 3
data are 120–129, 130–139, and so on.
140–149 2
(c) In the stem-and-leaf plot, individual items
150–159 8
were listed. In the frequency table in
part (b), items were grouped into class 160–169 6
intervals. 170–179 8
(d) Using individual items would create a
180–189 17
table with the data so spread out that it
would become difficult to view any trends. 190–199 3

DISPLAYING DATA
Tables are used to organize data; however, graphs are used to display data in a
more meaningful way. A bar graph consists of parallel bars of equal widths with
lengths proportional to the frequency of the variables they represent. A bar graph
is used to represent nominal data, such as days of the week. Typically, bar graphs
are used for discrete data. Look at the example on the top of the next page.

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 5

 Day Student Was Born

Project
8
Connection
Give thoughtful 6
consideration to Number of
Students 4
the type of graph
that will best 2
display your data. 0

ay

ay

ay

ay

ay
da

da

sd

sd

id

rd

nd
on

es

Fr
ne

ur

tu

Su
Tu
M

Th

Sa
ed
W
Day of the Week

frequency A histogram is a frequency distribution where the horizontal axis is divided

distribution—a set into equal class intervals into which data have been divided. The heights of the
of values of a variable,
together with the
rectangles represent the frequencies associated with the corresponding intervals.
frequency of each value A histogram is used to represent data that are organized into class intervals,
such as student heights. It is important that each interval have the same width.
Typically, histograms are used for continuous data. The following is an example.
Height of High School Students

18
16
14
12
Number of 10
Students 8
6
4
2
0
This shows that 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
all other values
are assumed to Height (cm)
be included.

A pictograph is a symbolic representation of data. The following pictograph

displays the number of participants (aged 15 and older) in the five most popular
sports activities in Canada.

Sport Activity Number of Participants

Golf
Ice Hockey
Baseball
Swimming
Basketball

Legend: represents 100 000 people

Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, 1998.

6 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

 A circle graph (or pie chart) is a circle divided into sectors whose areas are
proportional to the quantities represented. The size of each piece of a pie chart is
central angle—a determined by the central angle. It is calculated by multiplying the percent of
measure of proportion in a data for each category by 360º. For example, in the following table and pie chart,
pie chart. It is calculated as
follows: central angle =
which display the television viewing habits of Canadians, Sports represents 4.7%
percent of data for a of the data, or 0.047  360º  17º.
category × 360º

Programming Type Percent of Viewing Time

News and Public Affairs 31.8
Documentary 2.7
Instruction 3.7
Religion 0.3
Sports 4.7
Variety and Games 13.2
Music and Dance 0.8
Comedy 8.8
Drama 28.7
Other 5.3
Source: Statistics Canada

? Think about
TV Viewing Habits
Television Viewing Habits of Canadians

5.3%
Legend

News and Public Affair

What would the results
from your class look like? Documentary
How would you collect
these data? 31.8% Instruction
28.7%
Religion

Sports

Variety and Games

Music and Dance

2.7%
Comedy
3.7%
8.8% Drama
4.7%
0.8% Other
13.2%

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 7

 Example 3 Displaying Data
A survey conducted in a math class asked students what mode of transportation
they normally use to get to school. The results were as follows:
Bike 10
Walk 15
Bus 9
Car 6
Construct a circle graph to display these data.

Solution

Calculate the angle for each sector, as shown in the following table.

Mode of Transportation Number of Students Central Angle

10
Bike 10 
40
 360° = 90°

Walk 15 135°
Bus 9 81°
Car 6 54°
Total 40 360°

Use the sector angles and a protractor to construct the circle graph.
Mode of Transportation Legend

Bike
15% 25%
Walk

Bus

Car

23%

37%

Graphs for Examining the Spread of Data

box-and-whisker In a box-and-whisker plot, the box contains the median of the data and its
plot—a horizontal width represents the middle half of the data. From the sides of the box, hori-
representation of the
spread of a distribution zontal lines are drawn extending to the smallest and largest values of the data.
of data The following box-and-whisker plot displays the spread of the heights of a
median—the middle value group of high school students.
in a frequency distribution

8 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

 Heights of High School Students

120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200

Height (cm)

To find the median, the heights are listed in ascending order (smallest to
largest). The middle value (or the average of the middle two values if there is an
even number of items in the data set) is the median. The median for this data set
is 173.
The medians of the upper half and the lower half of the data are calculated to
find the upper and lower limits of the box. In this data set, these values are 184
and 156, respectively.
To construct the box-and-whisker plot, the data are plotted on a number line,
and the three calculated values are indicated. A box is drawn around the central
half of the data, and then lines are drawn extending to the smallest and largest
values of the distribution to create the whiskers.

overall median
smallest value in largest value in
the distribution the distribution

120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200

Height (cm)
median of the bottom median of the top
half of the data half of the data

Graphs for Examining Trends

A broken-line graph is a graph created by joining data points with line seg-
ments. The following is an example. Notice that all graphs must include a title
and the axes must be labelled. Pie charts and pictographs must also have legends.

Heating and Cooling

100
90
80
70
Temperature
(ºC) 60
50
40
30
20

0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400

Time (s)

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 9

 KEY IDEAS

population—refers to the entire group about which data are being

collected
data—information providing the basis of a discussion from which
conclusions may be drawn; data often take the form of numbers that can
be displayed graphically or in a table
sample—part of a population selected so as to gain information about
the whole population
frequency—the number of times an event occurs or the number of items
in a given category
stem-and-leaf plot—a way of organizing and presenting a collection
of numbers
class interval—a category or division used for grouping a set of observa-
tions
bar graph—a visual display of data in which quantities are represented
by bars of equal width; typically used with discrete data
frequency distribution—a set of values of a variable, together with the
number of occurrences (frequency) of each value
histogram—a visual display of data that have been organized into equal
class intervals, which appear on the horizontal axis. The heights of the
rectangles are proportional to the frequencies they represent. Typically
used with continuous data.
pictograph—a graph that uses pictures or symbols to represent variable
quantities
circle graph (pie chart)—a circle divided into sectors whose areas are
proportional to the variables represented
median—the middle term in a frequency distribution
box-and-whisker plot—a horizontal representation of the spread of a
distribution
broken-line graph—a graph created by joining data points with line
segments

10 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

1.1 Exercises

A 1. The number of goals scored by the top Jared

four players on the school soccer team
Phil
are displayed. Jared has 14 goals.
(a) What information is missing from Beth
the graph? Provide it. Talia
(b) How many goals does each player
have?
(c) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a pictograph?
2. Some students were asked to name the four Beatles. Their responses are
displayed below.

0 1 2 3 4 ? Don't
Know
Number of Correctly Named Beatles

(a) The vertical scale is missing. If seven students knew the names of
three of the Beatles, what would the scale be?
(b) How can the scale be altered, yet still display the same meaning?
(c) If these data represent the response of 1000 students at a local high
school, how many would be able to name all four Beatles?
3. Some Grade 12 students were asked to estimate the number of hours of
television they watch each day. These are their responses:
1, 1, 0.5, 1, 1, 0, 3, 2, 1.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 2, 1, 0.5, 1,
0, 0.5, 3
(a) Construct a tally and frequency table.
(b) Use the information to produce a graph.
(c) How many hours of television per day do you watch?
(d) Investigate the average daily television watching time for Canadians.
Compare this information with that from the class. Draw
conclusion(s) from your comparison. Give reasons for your answer.

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 11

 4. The stride lengths, in centimetres, of a group of Grade 12 students are
displayed in the following histogram.

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
40 80 120 160 200 240
Stride

(a) What information is missing?

(b) In what ways are bar graphs and histograms similar?
(c) In what ways are they different?
(d) When is a histogram more appropriate than a bar graph? Give reasons
for your answer.
5. The school library has received a donation and will purchase books based
on the borrowing patterns of the students.
Library Borrowing Patterns

Legend

French Language

English Fiction

English Non-Fiction

Reference

Spanish Language

(a) Based on the graph, estimate what percent of the money should be
spent on each book type.
(b) If the library received a donation of $125 000, estimate how much
money should be spent on each book type.
6. Thirty people were asked to state their favourite sport. The responses are
listed below.
Tennis 6
Football 8
Swimming 10
Badminton 3
Volleyball 3
Construct a circle graph to display this information.

12 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

7. Knowledge and Understanding The lengths of the songs on a CD compi-
lation set are given in minutes and seconds below.
3:44 3:40 4:57 4:08 4:02 4:47
4:08 2:39 4:04 4:06 3:24 4:48
4:27 3:03 4:13 4:05 4:16 4:01
3:40 3:53 3:02 3:43 5:13 3:49
4:38 5:21 4:01 4:32 3:45 3:59
4:00 3:29 4:05 4:06
What percent of the songs are less than 5 min in length?
(a) First, use a 30-s class interval to construct a frequency table.
(b) Then, use the table constructed in part (a) to answer the question.
(c) Explain why the table was more helpful than the list in answering
the question.
(d) Which type of graph should be used to display these data?
Construct it.
8. The number of hot dogs sold by a street vendor for each day in the month
of June is recorded below.
112 98 108 128 24 30 89
106 48 34 16 71 122 71
102 118 53 76 76 25 72
52 33 122 33 109 109 110
116 21
(a) Construct a stem-and-leaf plot to display the data.
(b) Use the plot to determine the number of days when fewer than
80 hot dogs were sold.
(c) On what percent of the days were more than 100 hot dogs sold?
9. The members of a Grade 9 class and a Grade 12 class were given a list of
five animals: cat, dog, bird, fish, and iguana. From the list, they were asked
to pick the animal they would want as a pet. The results were as follows:

Pet Grade 9 Grade 12

Cat 2 7
Dog 4 6
Bird 9 3
Fish 10 6
Iguana 5 8

(a) Construct a pictograph for both classes.

(b) What percent of students did not choose a cat or dog?
(c) Compare your answer in part (b) to the percent of Grade 9
students who did not choose a cat or dog. Show your work.

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 13

 10. Application For each of the following, determine the type of graph that
would best represent the data collected. Explain.
(a) What portion of the general population reads a newspaper on a daily
basis? On Saturday only?
(b) How does your heart rate change when doing each of the following
activities: sleeping, walking slowly, jogging, running?
(c) Which type of vacation do people prefer: camping, tropical holiday,
cruise, cottage, or visiting relatives?
(d) How do high school students spend a typical Saturday?
(e) How do students spend a typical weekday during the school year?
B 11. Communication For Question 12, below, write a plan explaining how you
would carry out the investigation. List all the steps clearly and reference
specific resources. For example, if you plan to use the Internet, list specific
Web-site addresses.
12. Investigate the breakdown of blood types in Canada.
(a) Use your findings to construct a circle graph.
(b) If 750 people attended a high school basketball game, calculate the
number that you would expect to have blood type A.
C 13. Choose five pop stars. Conduct a survey of students to determine their
favourite pop star.
(a) Organize the data in a frequency table.
(b) Construct a bar graph to display the data.
(c) Create a question about your graph. Have someone in the class answer
your question and provide an explanation for his or her answer.
14. Investigate the breakdown of enrolment in each of the Grade 12 math
courses in your school.
(a) Construct an appropriate display of the data.
(b) Give reasons for your choice of display.
(c) Draw conclusions from your data. Give reasons for your answer.
15. Thinking, Inquiry, Problem Solving
(a) Conduct a survey of students that asks one or more of the questions
that follow.
(i) How many hours per week do you spend at your part-time job?
(ii) How much money per month do you spend on entertainment
(e.g., CDs, concerts, movies, etc.)?
(iii) How tall are you in centimetres?
(iv) How many hours of television do you watch each week?
(v) List all the sports that you have participated in during the last
four weeks.
(b) Display your results in graphical form.
(c) Draw any conclusions that arise from the data. Explain.
(d) Reflect on how you conducted the survey. Explain any improvements
that you would make if you were to conduct the survey with a dif-
ferent group of students.

14 CHAPTER 1 THE POWER OF INFORMATION

ADDITIONAL ACHIEVEMENT CHART QUESTIONS
16. Knowledge and Understanding The 1996 Census of Canada reports the
following composition of Canadian families. Create two different displays
of these data.
Number of Children Number of Families (in thousands)
Without children at home 2730
With one child 2106
With two children 2047
With three children 729
With four children 175
With five or more children 51
Total families 7838
Source: Statistics Canada

17. Application
(a) Choose a topic that interests you and survey your classmates to find
their responses.
(b) Organize your data in a frequency table.
(c) Create the most appropriate graph to display your data.
(d) Use the table and your graph to draw a conclusion about your class.
18. Thinking, Inquiry, Problem Solving
(a) Use the Internet to find data that show a trend over time.
(b) Use the most appropriate graph to display your data.
(c) Use the graph to make a prediction. Give reasons for your answer.
19. Communication Explain the difference between histograms and bar
graphs, and provide an example of a set of data that is best suited for each
of these types of graphs.

Chapter Problem
Trends in Canada’s Population

Use the data given in the chapter problem on page 2 to answer these
questions.
CP1. Create three different types of graphs that can be used to compare
the structure of Canada’s population in 1996.
CP2. Of the three graphs you created, which graph best displays the
similarities and differences in the structure of the population?
Explain.

1.1 CONSTRUCTING AND INTERPRETING VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA 15