How to Create Bar Graphs

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How to Create Bar Graphs
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Bar Graphs

• Bar graphs are descriptive.
• They compare groups of data such as amounts and
  categories.
• They help us make generalizations and see
  differences in the data.

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Example

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Another example

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Draw the Axes

• Use a ruler
• Draw ON the blue lines, not floating in the boxes
• Leave enough room at the bottom and side to label
  each axis
• About 3 boxes

Y
X
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Label the Axes
Y
What is observed and measured? (Dependent
Variable)
of MMs
X
Color of MMs
What is changed by the scientist? (Independent
Variable)
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DRY MIX

• One way to remember which data goes on which
  axis is the acronym DRY MIX.
• D.R.Y. M.I.X.
• D- Dependent M- Manipulated
• R- Responding I- Independent
• Y- Y-axis X- X-axis

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Title

• Write an appropriate title for the graph at the
  top.
• The title should contain both the independent and
  dependent variables.
• What you wrote on the X and Y axis
• Ideas for a title??
• Amount of MMs in a Fun Size Bag

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Scale

• Decide on an appropriate scale for the y axis.
• The scale refers to the min and max numbers used
  on each axis. They may or may not begin at zero.
• The min and max numbers used for the scale should
  be a little lower than the lowest value and a
  little higher than the highest value.
• This allows you to have a smaller range which
  emphasizes the comparisons/trends in the data.

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Scale

• The Y-axis scale is from 0-100.
• The largest value though is only 35.

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Scale

• The Y-axis scale is now from 0-40.
• This does a better job emphasizing the
  comparisons between coins.
• What should our scale be?

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Intervals

• Look at your minimum and maximum values you set
• Decide on an appropriate interval for the scale
  you have chosen.
• The interval is the amount between one value and
  the next.
• It is highly recommended to use a common number
  for an interval such as 2, 5, 10, 25, 100, etc.
• Lets try a few intervals

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Once youve decided

• Draw tick marks ON blue line
• Do NOT label every

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Now lets draw the bars

• Start 1 box over from the Y-axis
• Each bar must be the same size
• Leave a box or 2 of space between each bar
• Use a ruler to draw each bar (3-4 boxes wide)
• Label the color underneath
• Write values on top of each bar
• Color!

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Does your graph look like this?
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Create-a-Graph Online!

• Click here to use the online tool!