Idea 15of 22Builds onBars need a scale that starts at 0
Watch for uneven steps on a scale
What happens when a scale's steps are not equal?
Today you'll discover
- how to spot unequal steps
- what they do to bar heights
- how to read the real amounts
Think firstBake sale money, Monday to Thursday
Thursday's bar looks twice as tall as Tuesday's. How many times as much money is it?
Decide first, then press Next. Read every number on the scale, not just the top one.
A bar graph of bake sale money, Monday $5, Tuesday $10, Wednesday $50, Thursday $100, on a scale whose lines read 0, 5, 10, 50, 100, equally spaced, so the bars look like a steady staircase. The steps are marked plus 5, plus 5, plus 40, plus 50. Then the same money with equal steps of 10, where Thursday's bar towers over the rest. The last step shows pages read on a scale of 0, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
A fair scale has equal steps; uneven steps hide how much more one bar is.
Easy to get wrongRead every number on the scale, not just the top one. One big jump between lines hides a lot.
Equal steps0, 10, 20, 30 … 100: every line adds 10, so a bar twice as tall really is twice as much.
Key word
- uneven scale
- a scale whose steps are not all the same size, like 0, 5, 10, 50, 100
Ready to use it?
- Check whether a scale's steps are equal.
- Read the real amounts from an uneven scale.