Graphical Representations and

Frequency Distribution

Basrah University for Oil and Gas College of Oil and Gas
Engineering//Department of Oil and Gas Engineering
Graphical Representations

A graph is a pictorial presentation of the relationship between variables. Many

types of graphs are employed in statistics, depending on the nature of the data
involved and the purpose for which the graph is intended. Among these are bar
graphs, histogram graphs, frequency polygon, etc.

1- Histogram is a graphic that gives an idea of the “shape” of a sample, indicating

regions where sample points are concentrated and regions where they are sparse.

Example1: The following data represents the ages of 30 students in a statistics

class. Construct a frequency distribution that has five classes

18 20 21 27 29 20
19 30 32 19 34 19
24 29 18 37 38 22
30 39 32 44 33 46
54 49 18 51 21 21
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Solution:

1. The number of classes (5) is stated in the problem.

2. The minimum data entry is 18 and maximum entry is 54, so the range is 36.
Divide the range by the number of classes to find the class width.

Class width = 36 / 5 = 7.2 Round up to 8.

3- The minimum data entry of 18 may be used for the lower limit of the first class.
To find the lower class limits of the remaining classes, add the width (8) to each
lower limit. The lower class limits are 18, 26, 34, 42, and 50. The upper class
limits are 25, 33, 41, 49, and 57

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2- Pie Chart

Represents relative frequency presented as proportions in a sector of a circle can

get elliptical, three-dimensional effect

Example 2: The combined percentages of carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3)
emissions from different sources are listed in Table below , construct a pie chart

3- Frequency Polygon

A line graph. The frequency is placed along the vertical axis and the class
midpoints are placed along the horizontal axis. These points are connected with
lines

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4- Dotplot : Displays the data of a sample by representing each data value With a
dot positioned along a scale. This scale can be either horizontal or vertical. The
frequency of the values is represented along the other scale.

5- Line diagram is obtained if lines are drawn parallel to y-axis against each variate
equal in length to the corresponding frequency.

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6- stem-and-leaf plot is a simple way of summarizing quantitative data and is well
suited to computer applications. When data sets are relatively small, stem-and-leaf
plots are particularly useful. In a stem-and-leaf plot, each data value is split into a
“stem” and a “leaf.” The “leaf” is usually the last digit of the number and the other
digits to the left of the “leaf” form the “stem.” Usually there is no need to sort the
leaves, although computer packages typically do.

Example3: Construct a stem-and-leaf plot for the 20 test scores given below

Solution: We use the first digit of the score as the stem and the second digit as the
leaf.

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Frequency Distribution
Distribution: The pattern of variability displayed by the data of a variable. The
distribution displays the frequency of each value of the variable
Frequency: the number of times a certain value or class of values occurs
Frequency Distribution (Table): the organization of raw data in table form, it is
often useful to distribute the data into classes, and to determine the number of
individuals belonging to each class, called the class frequency.
Ungrouped Frequency Distribution: a frequency distribution of numerical data.
The raw data is not grouped.

Example: construct a frequency distribution for the set below:

Data set (raw data): 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 2, 3, 3, 2, 4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 1, 5, 3, 2, 2, 1, 2, 4, 3, 3

Max. (The most popular answer)

(The second most popular answer)

Min. (the least popular answer)

n: the sum of frequencies, which is equal to how many
variables in the set

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Grouped Frequency Distribution: a frequency distribution where several
numbers are grouped into one class
Class Limits: Class limits are the smallest and largest observations (data, events
etc) in each class
Class Boundaries: Class Boundaries are the midpoints between the upper class
limit of a class and the lower class limit of the next class in the sequence
Creating a Grouped Frequency Distribution
1. Find the largest and smallest values
2. Compute the Range = Maximum Value – Minimum Value
3. Select the number of classes desired. This is usually between 5 and 20. We can find
the approximation number of class via Sturges formula:
K = 1+3.322 Log N
Where K: number of class
Log N: logarithm of the total number of the observations

4. Find the class width by dividing the range by the number of classes and rounding
up. There are two things to be careful of here. You must round up, normally 3.2 would
round to be 3, but in rounding up, it becomes 4.

width = Range/Number of classes

5. Pick a suitable starting point less than or equal to the minimum value. We need to
cover one more value than the range. The starting point is the lower limit of the first
class. Continue to add the class width to this lower limit to get the rest of the lower
limits.

6. To find the upper limit of the first class, subtract one from the lower limit of the
second class. Then continue to add the class width to this upper limit to find the rest of
the upper limits total number of the observations

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7. Find the boundaries by adding the upper limit of one class interval to the lower
limit of the next class interval and dividing by two, or by subtracting 0.5 units from
the lower limits and adding 0.5 units from the upper limits. Note it may not be
necessary to find the boundaries.
8. Tally the data.
9. Find the frequencies.
10. Find the relative frequency, which is the frequency divided by the total
frequency, this gives the percent of values falling in that class.

11. Find percent frequency distribution. Percent frequency distribution =

Relative frequency * 100

Type of frequency

1- Numerical frequency ∑
2- Relative frequency

3- percent frequency

4- Cumulative frequency : Cumulative frequency of K class is the sum of

frequencies of all classes up to k

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H.W: The following data give the lifetime of 30 incandescent light bulbs (rounded
to the nearest hour) of a particular type, Construct a frequency, relative frequency,
and cumulative relative frequency table

H.W: For the following data, construct a histogram

H.W: The following data refer to a certain type of chemical impurity measured in
parts per million in 25 drinking water samples randomly collected from different
areas of a county. (a) Make a frequency table displaying class intervals,
frequencies, relative frequencies, and percentages. (b) Construct a frequency
histogram

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