Question

Charts and graphs are used quite often in newspaper articles, magazines, books, and various online articles. There are pros and cons to using these types of visual representations. Describe one pro and one con for using a graph or chart. Share an example of a time when this type of visual changed your mind about something or gave you a deeper understanding of a topic or current event.

Answer 1

There are many types of Graphs and each type has both pros and cons.

Scatter plot

A scatterplot displays the relationship between two factors of the experiment. A trend line is used to determine positive, negative, or no correlation

Advantage: Shows minimum/maximum and outliers

Disadvantage: Hard to visualize results in large data sets

Pictograph

A pictograph uses an icon to represent a quantity of data values in order to decrease the size of the graph. A key must be used to explain the icon.

Advantage: Visually appealing

Disadvantage: Icons must be of consistent size

Line Chart

A line graph plots continuous data as points and then joins them with a line.

Advantage: Can compare multiple continuous data sets easily

Disadvantage: Use only with continuous data

Pie Chart

A pie chart displays data as a percentage of the whole.

Advantage: Shows percent of total for each category

Disadvantage: Total unknown unless specified

Histogram

A histogram displays continuous data in ordered columns.

Advantage: Can compare to normal curve

Disadvantage: Cannot read exact values because data is grouped into categories

Example

I read an article on Cost Benefit Analysis of Renting a House v/s buying a house and found the article to be most knowledge enriching. Earlier I was planning on buying a house but after reading the article it enabled me to do the Cost Benefit Analysis and plan accordingly.