Data Handling

Stem and leaf diagram

The heights of some children are listed below:

141 153 158 142 147 170 162 145 159 158 144 164 167 171 141

146 156 150 160 151 153 169 161 148 146 153 139 160 155 145

The first TWO digits of each number form the stem.

The LAST digit (the UNIT digit) is called the leaf.

Step by step

13 13 9
STEP 1: STEP 2:
List all the step Write down
14 14 1452716865
digits from the leaf next
smallest to biggest to the correct
15 stem.
15 3898601335
underneath each
other 16 16 2470910
17 17 01

STEP 3:
Arrange the 13 9
leaves in order
from smallest to 14 1124556678
biggest.
15 0133356889
16 0012479
17 01
Activity 1: Stem and leaf diagrams

1. How many learners were included in the survey?

2. How many learners are about 160 cm tall?
3. What height is the most common?
4. Anne is short for her age. How tall do you think she is?
5. What is the difference in cm between the tallest and shortest learner?
6. How many learners are taller than 140 cm, but shorter than 152 cm?
7. If the learners are lined up from short to tall, how tall is the learner
exactly in the middle?
8. Is the assumption that most of the learners in the class are taller than
155 cm true?

Activity 2: Stem and leaf diagrams

2.1 Organise the following data according to the Stem and Leaf Method and
determine which number appears most frequently.

576 578 542 551 559 565 555

590 566 588 555 560 583 570

Which number occurs most frequently? ______________

2.2 Organise the following data according to the Stem and Leaf Method and
determine which number appears most frequently.

3,1 9,4 7,0 6,2 5,5 4,2 5,6 4,4 6,4 7,8
3,2 5,7 4,4 6,8 7,9 5,7 3,7 6,8 5,7 8,0

Which number occurs most frequently? ______________

Activity 3: Stem and leaf diagrams

A doctor counted the number of days that it took each of her 65 patients to recover
from injuries. Her first patient took 26 days to get better; her second patient took 32
days, and so on. This is what she wrote down:

26 32 29 42 38 50 34 25 29 36 54
38 42 27 31 36 30 43 32 54 34 71
41 29 37 40 12 46 22 16 34 33 17
56 23 22 18 27 31 15 10 20 32 29

2.1 Draw up a stem and leaf diagram for the doctor.

2.2 Do you think the stem and leaf display is more useful to her than a list
written in order from smallest to largest? Why?

2.3 What was the longest period it took for a patient to recover?

2.4 Write down two questions to ask based on this stem and leaf diagram.
Give the questions to the person sitting next to you, to answer.
 Bar graphs and double bar graphs
A bar graph has a set of individual bars, each of which represent a number of things.
The bars do not touch each other. An important advantage of a bar graph is that you
can compare the heights of the bars to interpret data. A double bar graph can be
used to compare two sets of data in the same graph.

Here are the numbers of

I asked each person
learners who said “yes” to
in my class how he
or she gets to
each form of transport. Walk 8
school. Bicycle 4
Taxi 7
Bus 5
Train 6
Car 3

TYPES OF TRANSPORT TO SCHOOL

9

7
Number of People

0
The scale
on the Walk Bicycle Taxi Bus Train Car
vertical axis Type of Transport
shows the
number of The horizontal axis shows the
people. type of transport used.
Activity 4: Drawing bar graphs

Draw a bar graph using the numbers in the following table of number
of cars in Roseville from 1997 to 2005.

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Cars 400 450 500 750 650 800

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Activity 5: Interpreting bar graphs

Study the birthday bar graph below carefully then answer the questions:

BIRTHDAYS OF GRADE 10 CLASS

9

7
Number of Birthdays

0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Months

5.1 In which month do most children have their birthday?

5.2 Which two months are the next most popular for children’s
birthdays?

5.3 In which month do the least children have their birthday?

5.4 How many birthdays are in that month?

Activity 6: Interpreting bar graphs

The bar graph below shows the distribution of the population of South Africa by
language most often spoken at home. This data was collected in the population
census of 2001.

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION BY
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
25 23,8

20
17,6
Percentage of Speakers

15 13,3

9,4
10 8,2 8,2 7,9

4,4
5
2,7 2,3
1,6
0,6
0
o
a
lu

ga

e
a
h

r
s

i
at

he
an
os

el
nd
an
th

th
is
Zu

on

Sw

eb
gl

So
So
Xh

Ot
a

Ve
rik

En

Ts

Nd
Ts
rn

rn
Af

he

he
rt

ut
No

So

Languages

6.1 How many official languages are spoken in South Africa?

6.2 What percentage of the population gave Zulu as their home language?

6.3 Which two languages are spoken by the same percentage of the
population?

6.4 The population of South Africa was nearly 44 820 000. Use the
percentage at the top of each bar to calculate:

a) How many people gave Zulu as their home language?

b) How many people gave English as their home language?

6.5 What percentage of the population do Xhosa, English and Afrikaans

speakers make up combined?
Activity 7: Interpreting double bar graphs

The double bar graph shows the number of boys and girls in Grades 4 to 7 in a
school.

NUMBER OF BOYS AND GIRLS IN GRADE 4 - 7

90

80

70
Number of Learners

60

50

40 Boys
Girls
30

20

10

0
Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7
Grades

7.1 In which grade is there the same number of boys and girls?

7.2 In which grade are there more boys than girls?

7.3 How many more girls than boys are there in Grade 4?

7.4 How many learners are there in Grade 5?

7.5 Calculate the difference in the number of girls in Grade 5 to the

number of girls in Grade 7.

7.6 Calculate the number of boys in the school.

7.7 Calculate the total number of learners in the school.

Activity 8: Interpreting double bar graphs

Paula divided the year up into 4 quarters:

1. January – March
2. April – June
3. July – September
4. October – December

She measured the quantity of rain that fell during each quarter for 2 years. She then
drew this graph from her headings.

RAINFALL FOR 2004 - 2005

6000

5000
Rainfall in mm

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2004 2005

8.1 What was the rainfall during the first quarter of 2004?

8.2 What was the rainfall during the second quarter of 2005?

8.3 During which quarter was the rainfall 3 400 mm?

8.4 During which quarter was the rainfall 1 000 mm?

8.5 What was the total rainfall for 2004?

8.6 What was the total rainfall for 2005?

8.7 Why do you think there is a large difference in the amount of rainfall
for the first two quarters of 2005 compared to that of 2004?
Line and broken-line graphs
Line graphs and broken-line graphs are used to illustrate what happens to data as
time changes.

When Joseph was in hospital a nurse took his temperature every four hours for
two days. The readings are taken at regular intervals. The time intervals (the
DEPENDENT variables) are shown on the horizontal axis and the data values (the
INDEPENDENT variables) on the vertical axis. When Joseph was feeling better he
drew a broken-line graph of the results:

JOSEPH'S TEMPERATURE READINGS

41

40
Temperature in °C

39

38

37

36
06:00 10:00 02:00 06:00 10:00 02:00 06:00 10:00 02:00 06:00 10:00
AM AM PM PM PM AM AM AM PM PM PM

Time from Friday AM to Saturday PM

Activity 9: Interpreting broken line graphs

9.1 What was his temperature at 2 pm on Friday?

9.2 When was his temperature the highest?

9.3 When was his temperature 39°C?

9.4 Describe the general trend in Joseph’s temperature over those two days.

9.5 Can you use the graph to find out what Joseph’s temperature was at 04:00
pm on Friday afternoon? Give a reason for your answer.

9.6 Why does the scale on the vertical axis not start at 0°C?
Activity 10: Interpreting broken line graphs

This graph shows the number of car accidents in Cape Town every month for a
year.

CAR ACCIDENTS IN CAPE TOWN OVER A YEAR

PERIOD
3500

3000
Number of Accidents

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Month

10.1 Name the 2 months of the year in which the highest number of accidents
took place?

10.2 Why do you think there were more accidents during these 2 months than at
any other time of the year?

10.3 How many accidents occurred during February and March combined?

10.4 During which months were there 1000 accidents and 800 accidents?

10.5 What was the total number of accidents during the year?

10.6 What does the graph show us about the rate at which accidents happen?
Activity 11: Drawing broken line graphs

The table gives the rainfall (in mm) per month recorded in Cape Town over a certain
year.

Month J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rainfall (mm) 10 5 3 12 30 76 90 70 50 35 20 12

11.1 Draw a broken-line graph to show how the rainfall at the particular weather
station in Cape Town varied over the year.

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

11.2 Which month was the wettest?

11.3 Which month was the driest?

11.4 Is summer or winter the rainy season in Cape Town?

11.5 How does the graph show you this?

Pie charts
Pie charts are circles divided up to show the various
parts into which the whole is divided.

A class of 48 learners was asked to indicate their

favourite pet. Their preferences are shown in the table.

DOG CAT MOUSE GOLDFISH

16 18 6 8

To convert the data to a pie chart, we need to express each figure as a part of a
complete circle/whole. A complete circle is equal to __________, so each animal will
take up a part of the full circle.

Complete these calculations to work out each animal’s share of the pie chart.
(Remember, the total, represented by the whole circle, is 48.)
!" !
DOG #$
× 360° = ,
× 360° = _________°
!$ ,
CAT #$
× 360° = $
× 360° = _________°
" !
MOUSE #$
× 360° = $
× 360° = _________°
$ !
GOLDFISH #$
× 360° = "
× 360° = _________°

Write Dog, Cat, Mouse or Goldfish in the corresponding sector of the circle and
colour in each sector a different colour.

Favourite Pet

45°

60°
Activity 12: Interpreting pie charts

During the holidays Pia would spend most of her days as shown on this pie chart.

Pia's Day

Visiting
friends
25%
Sleeping
37,5%

Watching
TV
10%
backing
Surfing cupcakes
15% 12,5%

12.1 What fraction of the day did Pia spend reading?

12.2 How many hours did she spend baking cupcakes?

12.3 How many hours per day did she sleep?

12.4 How many hours and minutes per day did she spend surfing?

12.5 How many hours and minutes per day did she spend watching TV?
Activity 13: Interpreting pie charts

The pie chart shows how Kevin spent his time from 4 pm to 10 pm on different
activities.

Kevins day from 4 pm to 10 pm

Reading

45° Homework

Watching TV
playing gholf

30°
Supper

13.1 How many hours does the pie chart represent?

13.2 What fraction of the time was spent having supper?

13.3 What fraction of the time did he playing gholf? ?

13.4 How much time did Kevin spend on homework?

13.5 For how many minutes did he read?

13.6 For how many hours and minutes did he watch TV?
Pictograph
A pictograph represents information in the form of a picture.

NUMBER OF LOAVES BROUGHT FOR FEEDBACK

Note that a key is needed to indicate how many loaves each picture represents.

Activity 13: Interpreting pictographs

WATERMELON SALES DURING THE SUMMER

13.1 How many watermelons does represent?

13.2 How many watermelons does represent?

13.3 How many watermelons did Shop E sell?

13.4 How many watermelons have been sold altogether?

13.5 What fraction of the total were Shop C’s watermelons?

Measure of central tendency

The term “measure of central tendency” refers to different types of averages of a data
set. You might only know about the mean where the sum of the data set is divided by
the amount of numbers in the data set, but this value can be skewed by a particularly
high or low value in the data set. Mean, median and mode are all measures of central
tendency.

MEAN and MEDIAN

The mean is the average of the data set and can be calculated by adding all the numbers in
the data set and dividing it by the amount of numbers in the data set. For example:

Luca achieved the following results for his five Maths tests:

72% ; 60% ; 68% ; 63% ; 77%

./0"10"$0",0..
His mean for all these tests is: = 68%
2 3456789

Ross received the following Mathematical Literacy test scores:

2% ; 60% ; 63% ; 65% ; 69%

The median of 63, is a better average to use than the mean, since the 2% will bring his
mean down.

MODE
Kaylee received the following test scores for her Maths tests:

32% ; 60% ; 60% ; 60% ; 62%

At first glance it is clear that Kaylee normally achieves 60% for her tests and that the 32% is
completely out of the ordinary for her. We can say her modal average is 60%.

Activity 14: Measure of central tendency

Activity 15: Which measure of central tendency

Here are the hourly wages in Rands of thirteen workers at a Gru’s Jam Factory:

32; 37; 50; 68; 82; 62; 22; 90; 16; 42; 32; 46; 32

15.1 What wage was paid most often?

15.2 To find the answer to (1), would you find the mean, the mode or the
median?

15.3 The union that represents the workers went to the management of the
company and said that the average worker was earning less than R35 per
hour. What method did they use, the mean, median or mode?

15.4 Does the union’s statement give an accurate impression?

15.5 The Department of Labour says that R35 per hour is the minimum wage.
How many employees are earning less than the minimum wage?
15.6
15.7 What is the range of these wages?
Scale and bias in graphs
The person who draws a graph
The scale is the numbering on can change the scale to show
the side of the graph. The scale different pictures of the data.
can make the changes on the
graph seem big or small.

A magazine increased its sales during the first five months of a year. Study the
following two graphs carefully.

GRAPH 1 GRAPH 2
65000 70000
Number of magazines sold

Number of magazines
60000
60000
50000
sold

55000 40000

30000
50000
20000

45000 10000
J F M A M J F M A M

Months Months

Activity 16: Scale and bias

16.1 What is the difference between the scales of the 2 graphs?

16.2 Which graph gives a more accurate picture of the sales increase? Why?

16.3 What does the other graph make you think happened to the number of
magazines that were sold? How does it do this?

16.4 Which graph indicates that the magazine sales had improved by a bigger
amount?
16.5 Which graph do you think the publishers of the magazine would want to
publish?

16.6 Why do you think they would want to show this graph instead of the other one?
Activity 17: Scale and bias in pie charts

Ruby donates a certain amount of her pocket money to charity as shown in these
pie charts.

C
A B

17.1 What percentage of her pocket money does Ruby actually give to charity?

17.2 Which chart(s) record this fact best?

17.3 Which chart would Ruby use if she wanted to make an impression with what
she donated to charity?

17.4 Which chart would Ruby use if she was shy about it and did not want to appear
to be boasting?