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Statistics and Probability - Reading and drawing bar charts and pictograms

Grade 6IGCSE

Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.

🔑Concepts

Discrete Data: Data that can only take specific values (e.g., number of students, shoe sizes) and is often shown in bar charts or pictograms.

Pictograms: A way of representing data using pictures or symbols. Every pictogram must include a 'Key' to explain what each symbol represents.

Partial Symbols: In pictograms, a half or quarter of a symbol represents a fraction of the value defined in the key (e.g., if one circle = 4, half a circle = 2).

Bar Charts: Graphs where the height or length of the bars represents the frequency. Bars must be of equal width with equal gaps between them.

Axes and Scaling: The vertical axis (y-axis) usually shows the frequency, while the horizontal axis (x-axis) shows the categories. Choosing an appropriate scale (e.g., intervals of 2, 5, or 10) is crucial.

The Mode: In bar charts and pictograms, the mode is the category with the highest bar or the most symbols.

📐Formulae

Total Frequency=Sum of frequencies of all categories\text{Total Frequency} = \text{Sum of frequencies of all categories}

Frequency in Pictogram=Number of symbols×Value per symbol\text{Frequency in Pictogram} = \text{Number of symbols} \times \text{Value per symbol}

Difference between categories=Highest frequencyLowest frequency\text{Difference between categories} = \text{Highest frequency} - \text{Lowest frequency}

💡Examples

Problem 1:

In a pictogram, a symbol of a book represents 8 books. If the 'History' category shows 3 full book symbols and one half-book symbol, how many history books are there?

Solution:

28 books

Explanation:

Calculate the value of full symbols first: 3×8=243 \times 8 = 24. Then calculate the half symbol: 8÷2=48 \div 2 = 4. Add them together: 24+4=2824 + 4 = 28.

Problem 2:

A bar chart shows that 15 students like Blue, 10 like Red, and 12 like Green. How many students were surveyed in total?

Solution:

37 students

Explanation:

To find the total number of students, sum the frequencies of all categories: 15+10+12=3715 + 10 + 12 = 37.

Problem 3:

On a bar chart, the 'Apples' bar reaches 18 and the 'Oranges' bar reaches 7. How many more apples are there than oranges?

Solution:

11

Explanation:

Subtract the frequency of Oranges from the frequency of Apples: 187=1118 - 7 = 11.