HISTOGRAMS

Grouped continuous data can be represented on a histogram.

In a histogram, the area of each bar is proportional to the frequency.

The bars can have different widths.

(The width of a bar is called the class width.)

The vertical axis represents the frequency density.

frequency
Frequency density =
class width

or

Frequency = frequency density  class width

1 The lengths of 20 phone calls are recorded. Draw the histogram.

Length, t (min) Frequency Class width Frequency density

0≤t<3 6 3 6÷3=2
3≤t<5 7 2 7 ÷ 2 = 3.5
5 ≤ t < 10 7 5 7 ÷ 5 = 1.4

Add columns to the

table to show the 3
class widths and to
Frequency density

calculate the
frequency density. 2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (min)
2 The heights of 35 seedlings are recorded. Draw the histogram.

Height, h (cm) Frequency Class width Frequency density

0≤h<2 7 2 7 ÷ 2 = 3.5
2≤h<8 24 6 24 ÷ 6 = 4
8 ≤ h < 10 4 2 4÷2=2

Add columns to the

table to show the 3
class widths and to
Frequency density

calculate the
frequency density. 2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Height (cm)