It can be as simple as “the team here is composed of 50 percent men and 50 percent women” or “Our sales are made up of 30 percent fiction books and 70 percent non-fiction.” Pie charts show the composition of data, or the pieces of a whole. You can’t help but notice it-it breaks pattern and it’s a bold color that draws the eye. This is clearly identified on this chart with bars in contrasting colors.

The taller the bar, the more dollars were spent. This chart clearly shows that the United States spends more on health care per citizen than other countries. The y-axis (the vertical line) isn’t marked here, but it’s clearly showing dollars spent in millions. The x-axis (the horizontal line at the bottom of a graph) is usually used to show the categories: in this case, countries with universal healthcare expenses for 2015. Let’s talk about a few of the most common types of numerical charts:īar graphs are used to compare categories. Here are some of the more commonly used graphs and the kinds of stories they can help you tell. In this age of information, there are huge amounts of data to process and an equally impressive number of graphs and charts you can use to tell the data’s story. Discuss the appropriate use of common tables, charts, and infographics.