Tables, Charts, and Graphs
with Examples from History, Economics, Education, Psychology, Urban Affairs and Everyday Life
REVISED: MICHAEL LOLKUS 2018
Types of Visual
Representations of Data
Table of Yearly U.S. GDP by Industry (in
millions of dollars)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
All Industries 26093515 27535971 28663246 29601191 30895407 31397023
Manufacturing 4992521 5581942 5841608 5953299 6047477 5829554
Finance, Insurance, Real
4522451 4618678 4797313 5031881 5339678 5597018
Estate, Rental, Leasing
Arts, Entertainment,
Recreation,
964032 1015238 1076249 1120496 1189646 1283813
Accommodation, and
Food Service
Other 15614511 16320113 16948076 17495515 18318606 18686638
• The chart below is called a pie chart. It shows what percent "of the pie" a particular category occupies out of the
whole.
• If total GDP in 2015 is the entire pie, then manufacturing makes up 19% of that pie and finance makes up 18%.
Notice that visually speaking, since 19% and 18% are so close to each other in value, their respective slices of
the pie are similarly sized.
2015 U.S. GDP (in millions of dollars)
Manufacturing
Pie charts can be misleading when the slices do not correspond with the percent contribution to the whole pie.
Notice the pie chart below is not very intuitive.
• The graph below is called a bar graph.
• It shows each of the variables independent of each other, each with its own bar.
• 2015 GDP for all industries was $31.397023; looking at the graph, the bar for all industries is just above $30.
• One is still be able compare each variable with the other by comparing bars.
2015 GDP (in trillions of dollars)
• If given a table of data, we should be able to plot it. Below is some sample data; plot the data with x on the x-
axis and y on the y-axis.
x y
00
13
26
39
4 12
5 15
6 18
7 21
8 24
