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AP Statistics Tutorial Bar Charts and Histograms

Like dotplots, bar charts and histograms are used to compare the sizes of different groups.
Exploring Data

▼ The basics

▲ Charts and graphs

Patterns in data
Dotplots
Histograms
Stemplots
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Boxplots
Cumulative plots
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Scatterplots
Comparing data sets
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▼ Regression

▼ Categorical data

Experimentation Bar Charts

A bar chart is made up of columns plotted on a graph. Here is how to read a bar chart.
▼ Surveys

The columns are positioned over a label that represents a categorical variable.
▼ Experiments
The height of the column indicates the size of the group defined by the column label.
Anticipating Patterns
The bar chart below shows average household income for the four "New" states - New Jersey, New York, New
▼ Probability Hampshire, and New Mexico.
 
▼ Random variables  
$36,000   
▼ Discrete variables Income $24,000   
$12,000   
▼ Continuous variables
New New New New
▼ Sampling distributions Jersey Hampshire York Mexico

The chart shows that per capita income is highest in New Jersey; lowest, in New Mexico.
Statistical Inference

▼ Estimation

▼ Confidence intervals

▼ Hypothesis testing

▼ Hypothesis tests

Appendices

■ Practice exam

■ Notation
Histograms
■ AP stat formulas Like a bar chart, a histogram is made up of columns plotted on a graph. Usually, there is no space between
adjacent columns. Here is how to read a histogram.

The columns are positioned over a label that represents a continuous, quantitative variable.

The column label can be a single value or a range of values.

The height of the column indicates the size of the group defined by the column label.

The histogram below shows per capita income for five age groups.

 
 
$40,000 
 
Income $30,000 
 
$20,000 
 
$10,000 
 

25- 35- 45- 55- 65-

34 44 54 64 74

You can see from the chart that per capita income is greatest in the 45 to 54 age group.

The Difference Between Bar Charts and Histograms Bestsellers

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Here is the main difference between bar charts and histograms. With bar charts, each column represents a Updated daily
group defined by a categorical variable; and with histograms, each column represents a group defined by a
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continuous, quantitative variable.
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One implication of this distinction: it can be appropriate to talk about the skewness of a histogram; that is, the Proven Techniques to Help You
tendency of the observations to fall more on the low end or the high end of the X axis. Score a 5 (College Test
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With bar charts, however, the X axis does not have a low end or a high end; because the labels on the X axis are
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categorical - not quantitative. As a result, it is not appropriate to comment on the skewness of a bar chart.
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Book: 100 Essential Problems
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Problem 1
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Consider the histograms below.

 
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Which of the following statements are true?

I. Both data sets are symmetric.

II. Labels on the X axis are quantitative.

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II
(D) Neither is true.
(E) There is insufficient information to answer this question. Teach Yourself Flexbox
Solution
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The correct answer is (C). Both histograms are mirror images around their center, so both are symmetric. With with simple CSS.
bar charts, the labels on the X axis are categorical; with histograms, the labels are quantitative. Both of these
charts are histograms. Therefore, their labels are quantitative.
No floats, no workarounds,
no javascript.

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