Pie Charts
Pie Charts
Pie Charts
Pie Charts
5. Pie Charts
Why do we bother with Statistical Diagrams?
to this question The answer of spread?. is similar to the one for: why do we bother working out averages and measures a world jam-packed full of statistics, and if we were forced to facts We live inin their raw, untreated form, not only would we probably not be look at all theany and figures able to make sense out of them, but there is also a very good chance our heads would explode.
are done properly those figures in a clear, concise, Statistical Diagrams if they to make some sense presentthe figures, summarise them, and visually pleasing way, allowing us out of compare them to other sets of data.
TV Show Lost Heroes Desperate Housewives Countdown Teachers TV The Beauty of Maths 12 10 4 15 13 18 Total
Big Example A group of 72 maths teachers were asked to choose their favourite TV show from a list, and their responses are shown in the table on the right. Construct a pie chart to illustrate this information
To work this out, you need to remember that there are 360 degrees in a circle
That survey means there are 360 degrees to share between each of the people who took part in the many degrees does each HowCalculate the Angles person get?... Well, divide 360 by the number of people surveyed! To 1. Add up the total number of pieces of data 2. Divide 360 by this number this tells you how many degrees is allocated to each piece of data 3. To work out the size of angle for each category, multiply the answer to 2. by the number of people in each category rounding your answers sensibly if you need to. 4. Check: Before you start to draw, make sure you check that your total number of degrees does add up to 360!
Our Example:
1. So, we have a total of 72 teachers who were surveyed. 2. 360 72 = 5 So each teacher is worth 5 degrees on our pie chart 3. We know how many teachers are in each segment, so lets use our answer to 2. to work out what angle each segment gets
TV Show Lost Heroes Desperate Housewives Countdown Teachers TV The Beauty of Maths 12 10 4 15 13 18
Total
Angle of Segment
Remember: Check this column adds up to 360 before you move on!
2. Carefully place your angle measurer along the line, with the centre exactly on the centre of the circle. Now, count around from 0 until you reach the correct number of degrees in this case 600 and place a dot
3. Join up your dot to the centre with a straight line, and label your segment.
Lost
4. Now, this is the tricky bit turn your pie chart clockwise until your new line is horizontal (where the first line used to be). Now you can mark your next angle in exactly the same way.
s Lo t
st Lo
5. Keep doing this until you have drawn all your segments Check: You will know if you have got it right if the line to make your final segment is the very first line you drew! 6. If you want to you can colour in your segments, but you must remember to label them clearly, or add a key!
If you fancy, you might be able teacherswant to be really to Desperate Housewivesto say things like: roughly 3 times as many preferred Lost
Coffee
Tea
Squash
To answer this question we must do the opposite of what we did when we were drawing the pie chart we must use our angles to find our totals! Lets look at coffee it takes up 840 out of 3600, and what we want to know is how much does it take up out of our 240 people? Well, what about using this as an excuse to show off our Algebra skills!...
84 ? = 360 240
84 240 = ? 360