Interpret Pictograms

What is a pictogram?

A pictogram is simply a method of displaying information using pictures to represent a certain amount of information.

 

 

What are the advantages of a pictogram?

Pictograms are really good in two situations:

When you want the information to be really striking and easy to read

When the data can be easily split eg. into twos

 

What are the disadvantages of pictograms?

Pictograms can be really hard to interpret if the data is complicated or large. For example, if you had an envelope image as your picture, how would you accurately split it into 8? or 5? or 20?

 

Example:

The letters received by a house over the course of a week are shown in a pictogram.

 

 

a) How many letters were received in the week?

If we count up the symbols, we get 12 pictures because each one is worth 4 letters.

12 x 4 = 48 letters.

 

b) On which day did the family get the most letters?

This is just the one with the most symbols - Wednesday.

 

Now it's time for some questions.