Types of Diagrams
There are many types of diagrams which are used for data presentation.
Some popular types of diagrams are explained below:
Line Diagram
In a line diagram, you can represent different values using lines of
varying lengths. Further, these lines are either horizontal or vertical.
Also, there is a uniform gap between successful lines. You can use this
when the number of items is very large. Here is an example:
Example 1
The income of 10 workers in a particular week was recorded as given
below. Represent the data by a line diagram.
Sr. no.
of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
workers
Income
240 350 290 400 420 450 200 300 250 200
(Rs.)
The diagram is as follows:
Simple Bar Diagram
In order to draw a simple bar diagram, you construct horizontal or
vertical lines who have heights proportional to the value of the item.
You choose an arbitrary width of the bar but keep it constant. Also,
ensure that the gaps between the bars are constant. This diagram is
suitable to represent individual time-series or a spatial series. Here is an
example:
Example 2
Represent the following data using a bar diagram:
Years 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97
Coffee Exports
13.67 13.73 17.06 18.12
(‘0000 tonnes)
The diagram is as follows:
Multiple Bar Diagram
You can use a multiple bar diagram or a compound bar diagram when
you want to show a comparison between two or more sets of data. You
can draw a set of bars side-by-side, without gaps and separate the sets
of bars with a constant gap. Further, you must color or shade different
bars in a different manner. Here is an example:
Represent the following data on the faculty-wise distribution of students
using a multiple bar diagram:
Students
College
Arts Science Commerce
A 1200 600 500
B 1000 800 650
C 1400 700 800
D 750 900 300
The diagram is as follows:
Component or Sub-Divided Bar Diagram
In this diagram, you divide the bar corresponding to each phenomenon
into various components. Therefore, the portion that each component
occupies denotes its share in the total. You must ensure that the sub-
divisions follow the same order and also that you use different colors or
shades to distinguish them. You can use this diagram to represent the
comparative values of different components of a phenomenon. Here is
an example:
The following table gives the value of (A in Crores) of contracts
secured from abroad, in respect of Civil Construction, industrial
turnkey projects and software consultancy in three financial years.
Construct a component bar diagram to denote the share of activity in
total export earnings from the three projects.
Years 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97
Civil Construction 260 312 338
Turnkey Projects 442 712 861
Consultancy Services 1740 1800 2000
Total 2442 2824 3199
The diagram is as follows:
Circular or Pie Chart
A pie chart consists of a circle in which the radii divide the area into
sectors. Further, these sectors are proportional to the values of the
component items under investigation. Also, the whole circle represents
the entire data under investigation.
Steps to draw a Pie Chart
• Express the different components of the given data in percentages
of the whole
• Multiply each percentage component with 3.6 (since the total
angle of a circle at the center is 360°)
• Draw a circle
• Divide the circle into different sectors with the central angles of
each component
• Shade each sector differently
Use of Pie Chart
The use of pie charts is quite popular as the circle provides a visual
concept of the whole. Pie charts are simple to use and hence are one of
the most commonly used charts. However, the pie charts are sparingly
used only for the following reasons:
• They are the best chart for displaying statistical information when
the number of components is not more than 6. In the case of more
components, the chart becomes too complex to understand.
• Pie charts are not useful when the values of the components are
similar. This is because in the case of similarly sized sectors the
viewer can find it difficult to differentiate between the slice sizes.
Here is an example:
Represent the following data, on India’s exports (Rs. in Crores) by
regions from April to February 1997.
Region Europe Asia America Africa
Exports 32699 42516 23495 5133
From the table we have,
Total exports = 32699 + 42516 + 23495 + 5133
= Rs. 103,843 crores
Europe = {32699 × 360}/{103843} = 113°
Asia = {42516 × 360}/{103843} = 147°
America = {23495 × 360}/{103843} = 82°
Africa = {5133 × 360}/{103843}= 18°
Histogram
We can use another way of diagrammatical representation of data. If we
are working with a continuous data set or grouped dataset, we can use a
histogram for the representation of data.
• A histogram is similar to a bar graph except for the fact that there
is no gap between the rectangular bars. The rectangular bars show
the area proportional to the frequency of a variable and the width
of the bars represents the class width or class interval.
• Frequency means the number of times a variable is occurring or is
present. It is an area graph. The heights of the rectangles are
proportional to the corresponding frequencies of similar classes.
Construction of Histogram
1. Draw two perpendicular lines intersecting each other at a point O.
The vertical line is the y-axis and the horizontal is the x-axis.
2. Choose a suitable scale for both the axes to determine the height
and width of each bar
3. On the horizontal line, draw the bars with corresponding heights
4. There should be no gap between two consecutive bars showing the
continuity of the data
5. If the grouped frequencies are not continuous, the first thing to do
is to make them continuous
It is done by adding the average of the difference between the lower
limit of the class interval and the upper limit of the preceding class
width to the upper limits of all the classes. The same quantity is
subtracted from the lower limits of the classes.
Properties of Histogram
• Each bar or column in a bar graph is of equal width and
corresponds to the equal class interval
• If the classes are of unequal width then the height of the bars will
be proportional to the ration of the frequencies to the width of the
classes
• All bars have a common base
• The height of the bar corresponds to the frequency of the data
Problem 1: Draw the histogram for the given data.
Marks No. of Students
15 – 18 7
19 – 22 12
23 – 26 56
27 – 30 40
31 – 34 11
35 – 38 54
39 – 42 26
43 – 46 37
47 – 50 7
Total 250
Solution: This grouped frequency distribution is not continuous. We
need to convert it into a continuous distribution with exclusive type
classes. This is done by averaging the difference of the lower limit of
one class and the upper limit of the preceding class. Here, d = ½ (19 –
18) = ½ = 0.5. We add 0.5 to all the upper limits and we subtract 0.5
from all the lower limits.
Marks No. of Students
14.5 – 18.5 7
18.5 – 22.5 12
22.5 – 26.5 56
26.5 – 30.5 40
30.5 – 34.5 11
34.5 – 38.5 54
38.5 – 42.5 26
42.5 – 46.5 37
46.5 – 50.6 7
Total 250
The corresponding histogram is
