II. Statistical Graphs – section 3.

Histograms and Frequency Polygons are statistical graphs used to illustrate frequency
distributions.

Example: Construct a histogram for the frequency distribution below.

# of # of
Children families
0 8
1 11
2 18
3 11
4 6
5 4
6 2
7 1
8 2
9 1

A histogram is just a bar graph. I will make my bars go vertically. It wouldn’t be wrong if I made
my bars go horizontally.

Start by creating a graph of the first quadrant of an “x” and “y” axis. Use the label of the left
column for the x-axis, and the label on the top of the right column for the y-axis.

Place the numbers in the left column beneath the horizontal line. Place the numbers in the
right column to the left of the vertical line. You may have to increment the “y-axis” when it is
convenient. I incremented this y-axis by 2 as I didn’t want to write 18 numbers down. It would
have been hard to read the y-axis had I written down 18 numbers.

Make a rectangle above each number on the x-axis the appropriate height.

This is an example of a histogram that models the data in the frequency distribution.
20
Number of Families

15
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of children

(It is certainly okay if the bars touch. I can’t figure out how to make that happen.)
A frequency polygon is just a “line graph”. Let’s construct a frequency polygon to model the
same data. I just plotted the points from the frequency distribution and then connected each
point with a line segment.

Example: Construct a frequency polygon for the data we used to create our frequency
histogram.

Start as if you were creating a histogram. Place a point above each point on the “x-axis”.
Connect each point with a line segment.

19
18
17
Number of families

16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of Children

Homework #1-4
1) Create a frequency histogram and a frequency polygon from the data in the frequency
distribution below.

Frequency distribution

# of Children # of families
0 8
1 11
2 18
3 11
4 6
5 4
6 2
7 1
8 2
9 1
Total 64
2) Create a frequency histogram and a frequency polygon from the data in the frequency
distribution below.

Frequency distribution
Year Unemployment
rate
1920 5.2%
1930 4.2%
1940 8.7%
1950 5.3%
1960 5.5%
1970 4.9%
1980 7.1%
1990 5.6%
2000 4.0%
2010 9.6%

3) Create a frequency histogram and a frequency polygon from the data in the frequency
distribution below. Put the entire class on the horizontal axis.

Income (in thousands of Number of

dollars) families
16-22 2
23-29 5
30-36 4
37-43 3
44-50 1
Total 15

4) Create a frequency histogram and a frequency polygon from the data in the frequency
distribution below.

Frequency Distribution

Class Frequency
40-49 7
50-59 5
60-69 3
70-79 2
80-89 7
90-99 1
Total 25
Stem and Leaf Displays:

A stem and leaf display is a tool that organizes and groups the data while allowing us to see the
actual values that make up the data. To construct a stem and leaf display each value is
represented by two different groups of digits. The left group is called the stem and the
remaining group of digits is called the leaf. There are no rules for the number of digits to be
included in the stem. Basically stem and leaf displays break numbers up. Here are a few ways
numbers can be broken up using a stem and leaf display.

53 could get broken up 5 3

Stem Leaf

483 could be either 48 3 or 4 83

Stem Leaf Stem Leaf

6 could get written 0 6

Stem Leaf

Example: The following data represents the ages of 20 guests at 4 PM when happy hour starts
at the Yard House. A stem and leaf display has been started. Finish the stem and leaf display.

27 28 29 31 32
39 43 44 44 45
47 50 56 58 59
60 62 68 71 72

Stem Leaves
2 789
3 129
4
5
6
7
Notice the Stems are in ascending order. The leaves can be in any order BUT most people like
them to ascend also.
Also notice that a stem and leaf display looks like a sideways histogram.

I will just add the end of each number next to the appropriate number.

Stem Leaves
2 789
3 129
4 34457
5 0689
6 028
7 12

Homework #5-8: Create a stem and leaf display for the given data.

5) The table below indicates the ages of each student in a recent MAT 142 class. Construct a
stem and leaf display.

18 18 18 19 19
20 20 21 25 28
31 35 36 44 49

6) Twenty workers at a local mall were asked how many miles they commute to work one way.
The data below gives the result of the survey. Construct a stem and leaf display.

1 3 3 7 7
8 9 9 10 11
13 14 14 15 17
18 20 21 21 23

7) Starting salaries of recent computer science majors (in thousands of dollars) are given in the
table below. Construct a stem and leaf display.

42 45 48 49 50 51
55 57 58 59 60 61
62 64 65 66 67 73
8) Fifteen students were asked how many times a week they ate fast food. The results are
given in the table below. Construct a stem and leaf display.

0 1 2 4 4
5 8 11 11 13
14 15 20 21 22

Circle graphs (also known as pie charts) are often used to compare parts of one or more
components of the whole to the whole.
It will be important to know the relative sizes of regions we are constructing when we are
creating circle graphs. Here are some common percent graphed.
50% takes up half of the graph
25% takes up a quarter of the graph.
12.5% takes up 1/8 of the graph

12.50% 12.50%

25%

50.00%

Here is a representation of 90% and 10%

10%

90%

For the most part I just eyeball it when I create circle graphs. I generally know about how large
I need to make a region and I just try to get close. I never measure.
Example: 600 people exiting the AMC movie theatre at Arrowhead Mall were asked what type
of movie they just watched. The results can be seen below…

Movie Type # of People

Action 150
Comedy 300
Drama 75
Science Fiction 75

Use this information to create a circle graph

To do this “by hand” we have to do a little math. We need to change each number to a
percent, or if you like a degree. I won’t show how to use degrees as percent seems to be more
common.

Movie type # of people % of total to nearest tenth

150
Action 150 = 0.25 = 25%
600
300
Comedy 300 = 0.50 = 50%
600

75
Drama 75 = 0.125 = 12.5%
600

75
Science Fiction 75 = 0.125 = 12.5%
600

Totals 600 100%

Note: The percent column must add up to 100%.

Lastly, create a reasonable picture. The Comedy sector must take up half of the graph. It can
be the top of the graph, the bottom or like I showed the right side of the graph.

The Action region needs to take up 25% or one quarter of the graph.

Chart Title
12.50%

12.50%
50%

25%

Action Comedy Drama Science Fiction

Homework #9-11: Construct a Circle graph from the given data.

9)

Type of cell phone Number of users

IPhone 50
Galaxy 25
Flip Phone 10
Other 10
No cell phone 5

10)

IQ Number of people
85 - 100 40
100 - 115 30
115 - 130 10
Higher than 130 5

11)

Height Number of people

5 feet – 5 feet 6 inches 100
5 feet 7 inches to 6 feet 80
Over 6 feet 1 inch 20
Example: A survey was given to 200 people. The results are summarized in the circle graph
below.

a) How many peoples favorite sport is Tennis?

Simply multiply the total number of people by the percent (in decimal form) that say their
favorite sport is tennis.

200 * 0.18 = 36

Answer: 36 people

b) How many more people favored soccer than basketball?

Find out how many favored each.

Number that favored soccer: 200*.29 = 58

Number that favored basketball: 200*.22 = 44

Then subtract the amounts.

Answer 58 – 44 = 14 more people favored soccer than basketball.

Homework: 12 - 19
12) Andrew spends 25 hours a week doing leisure activities. The results are summarized in the
circle graph below.

a) How many hours a week does Andrew spend watching television? (Round to 2 decimals.)
b) How much more time does Andrew spend playing sports than he does reading? (Round to 2
decimals.)

13) A survey was given to 500 students. The results are summarized in the circle graph below.

a) How many students favorite type of music is country?

b) What is the most popular type of music and how many students say it is their favorite?
14) The current population of the USA is approximately 320 million people. The following circle
graph summarizes the population of the USA.

Ages of people living in the USA

10%

20%
30%
40%

0-17 18-44 45-64 65 and older

a) How many people in the USA are 45 or older?

b) How many are under 45?

15) 300 people attended a concert. The circle graph below summarizes the ages of the people
who attended the concert.

a) How many people at the concert were 30 or older?

b) How many were under 50?
16) This frequency histogram represents the salary of employees in a certain company. You
will have to estimate some of the numbers, and your answer could be slightly different than
mine if your estimates are different.

a) How many employees made at least 44 thousand dollars per year?

b) How many made less than 33 thousand per year?

17) The ages of people attending a school assembly are summarized in the histogram below.
You will have to estimate some of the numbers, and your answer could be slightly different
than mine if your estimates are different.

Chart Title
90
80
number of students

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
age in years

a) How many people were at least 15?

b) How many were under 12?
18) 200 students took a final exam and the results are displayed in the histogram below.

a) What percent of the students got an A on the final exam?

b) How many students got an A on the final exam?
c) How many students failed the final, if a grade of a D or F is considered failing?

19) 300 men were measured. The results (in percent) are summarized in the histogram below.

20
18
16
Number with the height

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
Height in inches

a) How many men had heights between 68 and 70 inches inclusive?

b) How many men had heights greater than 72 inches?
Answers:
1) Histogram
20
number of families

15

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of Children

Frequency polygon
20
Number of families

15
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of children

3)
Histogram
20
Number of families

15
10
5
0

Income in thousands of dollars

Frequency polygon
 20
Number of families 15
10
5
0
16-22 23-29 30-36 37-43 44-50 Total
Income in thousands of dollars

5)
Stem Leaves
1 88899
2 00158
3 156
4 49

7)
Stem Leaves
4 2589
5 015789
6 0124567
7 3

9)
5%
10%

10%
50%

25%

IPhone Galaxy Flip Phone Other No cell phone

11)
10%

50%
40%

5 feet – 5 feet 6 inches 5 feet 7 inches to 6 feet

Over 6 feet 1 inch

13a) 15 13b) pop, 320 15a) 198 15b) 270 17a) 70 17b) 130
19a) 37 men 19b) 7 men