lesson
Updated 6 days ago · 1 view
Imagine you count 5 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 birds. How can you show your friends your numbers with a fun picture?
Different pictures, called graphs, tell different kinds of number stories.
What if you just want to count separate items one by one?
Counting Things
When you count separate items, we call that discrete data. For this, we use a bar graph or a pictogram.
A pictogram uses iconic picture units to show counts, while Bar Graphs compare distinct, discrete categories like favorite subjects or shoe sizes.
In a bar graph, the height or length shows the frequency of each category, and spaces separate each bar to show categories do not flow continuously.
Bar Graphs are ideal for comparing distinct, discrete categories (such as favorite subjects or shoe sizes). Each bar's height shows its frequency, and spaces separate the bars to show categories do not flow continuously.
📊Interactive diagram
But what if you want to track something that changes smoothly over time, like how tall a plant grows?
Growing Over Time
Things that change smoothly over time are called continuous data. We show this with a line graph.
Plotting points and connecting them with line segments allows you to easily track trends and observe rates of change.