Pie charts
A pie chart is a circle divided up into sectors which are
representative of the data.
In a pie chart, each category is shown as a fraction of the circle.
Methods of travel to work
For example, in a survey
half the people asked
drove to work, a quarter
walked and a quarter went
by bus. Car
Walk
Bus
Pie charts
This pie chart shows the distribution of drinks sold in a cafeteria on
a particular day.
Drinks sold in a cafeteria
Altogether 300 drinks were
sold.
Estimate the number of each
coffee type of drink sold.
soft drinks
tea Coffee: 75
Soft drinks: 50
Tea: 175
Drawing pie charts
To draw a pie chart you need compasses and a protractor.
The first step is to work out the angle needed to represent each
category in the pie chart.
We need to work out how many degrees are needed to
represent each person or thing in the sample.
Drawing pie charts
For example, 30 people were asked which newspapers they read
regularly.
The results were :
Newspaper Number of people
The Guardian 8
Daily Mirror 7
The Times 3
The Sun 6
Daily Express 6
Drawing pie charts
Method 1
There are 30 people in the survey and 360º in a full pie chart.
Each person is therefore represented by 360º ÷ 30 = 12º
We can now calculate the angle for each category:
Newspaper No of people Working Angle
The Guardian 8 8 × 12º 96º
Daily Mirror 7 7 × 12º 84º
The Times 3 3 × 12º 36º
The Sun 6 6 × 12º 72º
Daily Express 6 6 × 12º 72º
Total 30 360º
Drawing pie charts
Once the angles have been calculated you can draw the pie chart.
Start by drawing a circle using
compasses. Daily The Guardian
Draw a radius. Express
72º 96º
Measure an angle of 96º from the
72º
radius using a protractor and label The Sun
84º
the sector. 36º Daily
Mirror
Measure an angle of 84º from the The
Times
the last line you drew and label the
sector.
Repeat for each sector until the pie chart is complete.
Reading pie charts
The following pie chart shows the favourite crisp flavours of 72
children.
How many children preferred
Smokey ready salted crisps?
Prawn bacon
cocktail
55º
35º HoHow many degrees repesents
Salt and one child?
85º 135º Ready
vinegar
salted 360
50º = 5º.
72
Cheese
and The number of children who
onion
preferred ready salted is:
135 ÷ 5 = 27
Pie Chart
Pie Chart
Pie to Bar: Spending On NY
Lottery
NY State Lottery Sales in $bn in 2002
Other Games
13.4%
Instant Games
Lotto 42.7%
23.1%
4-Digit Games Source: Stat Abstract of the US
7.2% 3-Digit Games
13.6% Sample Size: $38.4 bn
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Spending On NY Lottery
$ %
Type of Game in bn nrst 0.1 nrst 0.1
Instant Games °
3-Digit Games °
4-Digit Games °
Lotto °
Other Games °
Totals °
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Spending On NY Lottery
$ %
Type of Game in bn nrst 0.1 nrst 0.1
Instant Games 16.4 42.7% 153.8 °
3-Digit Games 5.2 13.6% 49.1 °
4-Digit Games 2.8 7.2% 26.0 °
Lotto 8.9 23.1% 83.0 °
Other Games 5.1 13.4% 48.1 °
Totals 38.4 100.0% 360.0 °
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NY State Lottery Sales in $bn
18.0
16.4 Source: Statistical Abstract of US
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
8.9
Sales in $bn
8.0
6.0 5.2 5.1
4.0
2.8
2.0
0.0
Instant Games 3-Digit Games 4-Digit Games Lotto Other
Type of Game
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Turning a Pie Chart into a Bar Graph
What Job Do Students Want After College?
Grad School
18.0%
Private
Co/Business
36.1%
Own
Business
13.9%
State/Local Federal
Gov't Government
18.9% 13.1%
Source: Duke University Sample Size: 122 Students
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