Statistics: Interpreting Bar Graphs

In this activity, we will be learning to understand and read information from a bar chart.

Bar charts can be used to show numbers and information, They are often used to record time and distance.

Kirstie timed how long it took her to cycle to the paper shop every day for a month. The results are in the bar chart.

The height of each bar on the y-axis tells us how often Kirstie took that amount of time to complete the journey.

The x-axis tells us the amount of time it took to complete the journey.

Let's try an example question using the bar chart. 

Example

What was her shortest time for any journey in minutes?

How many occasions did she make this journey?

Answers

The first bar shows the journey only took 8 minutes, so 8 minutes was the shortest time.  

Kirstie took this amount of time (8 minutes) on just 1 occasion (height of bar).

Now it's your turn to try some questions like this. Good luck.