Histogram

Menuka Suwinda
BELVOIR COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL
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Histogram
When displaying grouped data, especially continuous data, a histogram is often the best way
to do it – specifically in cases where not all the groups/classes are the same width , and
by “width” we mean the upper bound of the class takeaway the lower bound. Histograms are
like bar charts with 2 key differences:

 There are no gaps between the bars, and

 It’s the area (as opposed to the height) of each bar that tells you the frequency
of that class.

In order to make this work, when drawing a histogram, we plot frequency density on the y-
axis rather than frequency. The frequency density for each group is found using the formula:

frequency
Frequency Density = class width

In this topic we will at both drawing and interpreting histograms.

Example: 
Below is a grouped frequency table of the lengths of 71 pieces of string. Construct a
histogram of the data.

To construct a histogram, we will need the frequency density for each class. Dividing the
frequency of the first class by its width, we get

frequency 8
Frequency Density = = =0.4
class width 20−0

Then, for the second class we get

frequency 13
Frequency Density = = =1.3
class width 3 0−2 0
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Once we have calculated the frequency density with the remaining groups, then it is good to
add a third column to the table containing the frequency density values, see: below.

Once this new column is completed, all that remains is to plot the histogram.

With lengths on the  x-axis frequency density on the  y-axis, each bar that we draw will
have width equal to its class width, and height equal to the relevant frequency density.

The resulting histogram is shown below,

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The other part of this topic is interpreting histograms when they’re given to you pre-drawn.
You might see them without the frequency density axis labelled, like the example below.

Example: 

Below is a histogram times taken to complete a quiz. 44 people took between 0 and 1.5
minutes. Work out how many people took between 3 and 4 minutes.

It’s imperative here to remember that it’s the  area  that matters.

So, to answer this question, we’re going to use the information to work out how much 1 small
square of area is worth.

Between 0 and 1.5 minutes includes all of the first bar and some of second.

 From 0 to 1 minutes there are,

10 x 12 = 120 small squares.

 From 1 to 1.5 there are,

5 x 20 = 100 small square

marked on the graph below for clarity.

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 So, in the total there are 100 + 120 = 220 small squares between o and 1.5 minutes

 And the question tells us that this accounts for 44 people

 Therefore, 1 person is equals to

220 ÷ 44 = 5 small squares

 Now reading from the graph we get 11 x 10 = 110 small squares between 3 and 4
minutes, so given that 5 small squares is one person, there must be

110 ÷ 5 = 22

 There are 22 people who took between 3 and 4 minutes to do the quiz.