Idea 13of 22Builds onPick a scale that fits the data
Same numbers, different pictures
How can one set of numbers tell three different stories?
Today you'll discover
- how a scale can make a gap look huge
- how a scale can hide a gap
- what to check first
Think firstOne garden's seedlings: Beans, Peas and Corn
The Beans bar looks over 3 times as tall as Corn's. Did over 3 times as many sprout?
Decide first, then press Next. Read the scale before you judge the bars.
The garden seedlings, Beans 47, Peas 44 and Corn 42, drawn three ways. With the scale from 40 to 48, Beans towers over Corn. With the scale from 0 to 50, the three bars are nearly the same height. With the scale up to 500, all three are short stubs. Then the zoomed graph again, with the note that the bottom 40 of every bar is cut off. The last step shows pizza votes on a scale up to 200.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
The same numbers can look calm or dramatic; read the scale and the values first.
Three storiesBeans 47, Peas 44, Corn 42. From 40: a huge win. From 0: a close race. Up to 500: no difference at all.
Easy to get wrongA graph can be drawn to tell the story its maker wants. The numbers are what you check.
Key word
- misleading graph
- a graph drawn so its look gives a wrong idea of the numbers
Ready to use it?
- Say what story a graph's look tells.
- Check that story against the numbers.