Different Types of Graphs: Histogram, Pie Chart, Bar and Line Graph



In this blog, we are going to learn about graphs and different types of graphs. Let's begin.

Do you know what graphs are?

A graph is a visual, concise means of presenting the information. Graphs are the visual representations of data. Data can be in the form of a table but graphical representation is easier to understand.

Data can be in the form of a table but graphical representation is easier to understand. With the graphs, we can easily compare the data.

Price of Wheat in five years

Year  Price (In Rs.)
1999 12
2000 15
2001 18
2002 20
2003 14

Bar Graph

A Bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally.

Different Types of Graphs:

A bar graph consists of two or more vertical or horizontal bars.

The height of each bar shows the weight of students of a particular height. For example, the weight of a student whose height is 150 centimeters is forty-two kilograms.

Different Types of Graphs

Double Bar Graphs

Bar graphs can also have double bars.  We can use this graph to compare the marks of Raghav and Alisha in a particular term. In this graph, each term has two bars, one representing the marks of Raghav and the other representing the marks of Alisha.

We can call it the double bar graph. In the third term, Raghav got forty-five marks and whereas Alisha got thirty-five marks.

Different Types of Graphs

Let's move on to other different types of graphs.

Histogram

Let us look at this graph, this is a histogram. A Histogram is a bar graph that shows data in intervals. It has adjacent bars over intervals. This histogram shows the result of the maths text. Each bar represents an interval. There are no gaps between bars because there are no gaps between intervals.

We know a histogram is also a bar graph but there is a difference between the bar graphs and histograms.

The difference in the way that bar graphs and histograms are drawn is that the bars in bar graphs are usually separated whereas in histograms the bars are adjacent to each other. However, This is not always true. Sometimes you see bar graphs with no spaces between the bars but histograms are never drawn with spaces between the bars. 

Pie Graph

Now the turn of pie graphs. 

Different Types of Graphs

This pie graph shows the votes of BJP, Congress, and others as the percentage of the total number of votes in the election. The area of each sector shows the percentage of votes of each political party. As we can see, the pie graph is used to compare parts of a whole.

Line graph

Now let us come to the line graph.

A line graph represents data or sets of data that have been collected over a period of time.
Line graphs compare two variables. Each variable is plotted along an axis. A line graph has a vertical axis and a horizontal axis. To the left is a table that shows the date in one column and the corresponding temperature in the second column.

Date Temperature
1 10
2 25
3 30
4 42
5 23
6 25
7 40

Average Daily Temperature for January 1-7 in Degrees Fahrenheit

The line graph below shows the degrees of temperature going up the vertical axis and the days of the week on the horizontal axis (going sideways from left to right). The points for the temperature of each day are connected by a line - thus the graph is a line graph.

Graphs

Read More: What is the Area of a Parallelogram? Definition, Formula and Examples


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A histogram displays the frequency distribution of numerical data using continuous intervals or bins, with bars touching each other to show the data's range. In contrast, a bar graph represents categorical data with separate, distinct bars for each category, which are spaced apart.

Use a pie chart to show the proportion or percentage of a whole when you want to emphasize how different categories contribute to the total. A bar graph is better for comparing discrete categories or showing changes over time.

A line graph is ideal for showing trends over time or continuous data. It helps visualize how values change at regular intervals, making it easy to identify patterns, fluctuations, and overall trends.

Histograms are best for showing the distribution of continuous numerical data. They help illustrate how data is spread across different intervals or ranges, making them useful for understanding the shape and spread of the data distribution.

Pie charts are not ideal for large datasets or when there are many categories because they can become cluttered and hard to interpret. For larger datasets with many categories, bar graphs or other types of charts may provide clearer insights.

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