Bar Graph

Salahaddin University
College of Engineering
Department of Surveying (geomatics)
Prepared by Supervisor
Suhayb hazim Dr. Ashti
2021-2022

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Content:
Bar Graph 2
What is Bar Graph?
2
Properties of Bar Graph
2
Uses of Bar Graph
3
Types of Bar Graphs
3
Vertical Bar Graphs
3
Horizontal Bar Graphs
4
Stacked Bar Graph
4
Grouped Bar Graph
4
How to Draw a Bar Graph?
6
Bar Graph vs Histogram
8
Tips on Bar Graphs: 8
References: 10

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Bar Graph
A bar graph is a specific way of representing data using rectangular bars
where the length of each bar is proportional to the value they represent. It is a
graphical representation of data using bars of different heights. In real life, bar
graphs are commonly used to represent business data.
What is Bar Graph?
A bar graph is a graph that shows complete data with rectangular bars and
the heights of bars are proportional to the values that they represent. The
bars in the graph can be shown vertically or horizontally. Bar graphs are also
known as bar charts and it is a pictorial representation of grouped data. It is
one of the ways of data handling. Bar graph is an excellent tool to represent
data that are independent of one another and that do not need to be in any
specific order while being represented. The bars give a visual display for
comparing quantities in different categories. The bar graphs have two lines,
horizontal and vertical axis, also called the x and y-axis along with the title,
labels, and scale range.
Properties of Bar Graph
Some properties that make a bar graph unique and different from other types
of graphs are given below:
 All rectangular bars should have equal width and should have equal space
between them.
 The rectangular bars can be drawn horizontally or vertically.
 The height of the rectangular bar is equivalent to the data they represent.
 The rectangular bars must be on a common base.

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Uses of Bar Graph
A bar graph is mostly used in mathematics and statistics. Some of the uses of
the bar graph are as follows:
 The comparisons between different variables are easy and convenient.
 It is the easiest diagram to prepare and does not require too much effort.
 It is the most widely used method of data representation. Therefore, it is
used by various industries.
 It is used to compare data sets. Data sets are independent of one another.
 It helps in studying patterns over long periods of time.
Types of Bar Graphs
Bar Graphs are mainly classified into two types:
 Vertical Bar Graph
 Horizontal Bar Graph
The bars in bar graphs can be plotted horizontally or vertically, but the most
commonly used bar graph is the vertical bar graph. Apart from the vertical
and horizontal bar graphs, there are two more types of bar graphs, which are
given below:
 Grouped Bar Graph
 Stacked Bar Graph
Let us understand all the types of bar graphs in detail.
Vertical Bar Graphs
When the given data is represented vertically in a graph or chart with the help
of rectangular bars that show the measure of data, such graphs are known as
vertical bar graphs. The rectangular bars are vertically drawn on the x-axis,
and the y-axis shows the value of the height of the rectangular bars which
represents the quantity of the variables written on the x-axis.

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Horizontal Bar Graphs
When the given data is represented horizontally by using rectangular bars
that show the measure of data, such graphs are known as horizontal bar
graphs. In this type, the variables or the categories of the data have to be
written and then the rectangular bars are horizontally drawn on the y-axis and
the x-axis shows the length of the bars equal to the values of different
variables present in the data.
Stacked Bar Graph
The stacked bar graph is also referred to as the composite bar graph. It
divides the whole bar into different parts. In this, each part of a bar is
represented using different colours to easily identify the different categories. It
requires specific labelling to indicate the different parts of the bar. Thus, in a
stacked bar graph every rectangular bar represents the whole, and each
segment in the rectangular bar shows the different parts of the whole. It can
be shown vertically or horizontally.
Grouped Bar Graph
The grouped bar graph is also referred the clustered bar graph. It is used to
show the discrete value for two or more categorical data. In this, rectangular
bars are grouped by position for levels of one categorical variable, with the
same colours showing the secondary category level within each group. It can
be shown both vertically and horizontally.

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 Observe the figure given below which shows different types of bar graphs.

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How to Draw a Bar Graph?
Let us understand how to draw a bar graph with help of an example. Liza
went to the market for buying different types of fruits in different quantities of
each- 5 apples, 3 mangoes, 2 watermelons, 3 strawberries, 6 oranges. She
wants to display the data by making a bar graph so that she can visually
understand which type of fruits she buys the most.
Let us use the following steps to make a bar graph of the most bought fruit.
 Step 1: Take a graph paper and give the title of the bar graph like "Most
Bought Fruit".
 Step 2: Draw the horizontal axis (x-axis) and vertical axis (y-axis) on a
plane.
 Step 3: Now label the horizontal axis as "Types of Fruits" which is an
independent category and the vertical axis as "Number of Fruits" which is
a dependent category.
 Step 4: Label the fruits' names such as apples, mangoes, watermelon,
strawberries, oranges and give an equal gap or leave equal space
between each fruit on the horizontal axis.
 Step 5: Give the scale of the graph which shows the way in which
numbers are used in the data. It is a system of marks at fixed intervals
which helps in measuring objects. For example, the scale of a graph can
be written as 1 unit = 1 fruit.
 Step 6: Now start making rectangular bars with equal gaps for each fruit
and give height to their respective numbers.
 Step 7: The bar graph is ready, observe the height of rectangular bars of
each fruit and find out the most bought fruit.
While drawing a bar graph it is very important to mention four things - labels
on axes, title, scale, and name of the axes.

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 From the above graph, we can easily say that orange is the most bought
fruit that Liza buys.

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Bar Graph vs Histogram
The basic difference between histograms and bar graphs is that the bars in a
bar graph are not adjacent to each other whereas, in histograms, the bars are
adjacent. A bar graph is the graphical representation of precise data using
rectangular bars with equal gaps between them whereas a histogram is the
graphical representation of data that is represented by rectangular bars with
no gaps between the bars.
Histograms are used to represent distributions of variables and plot
quantitative data such as data of the population changes every year, marks
obtained, monthly salary whereas bar graphs are used to compare various
variables and are used to plot categorical data such as data of types of
animals, types of colours, types of movies, etc.
Tips on Bar Graphs:
Given below are some important tips related to bar graphs.
 There must be equal spacing between the bars.
 First, understand the data presented on the x-axis and y-axis and the
relation between the two in terms of the length of the bars.
 If the frequency of data is very large, then bar graphs are always advisable
since pictographs become time-consuming and very difficult to make.
Example 1: The number of children in five different batches of an educational
institute is given below. Represent the data on a bar graph.
Solution: The data is represented by
the bar graph as follows:
Batches Number of Children
Batch 1 120
Batch 2 80
Batch 3 95
Batch 4 100
Batch 5 60

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Example 2: Observe the given horizontal bar graph which shows the baking
of cakes in a bakery from Monday to Saturday. Find out the day on which the
maximum number of cakes were baked. Also, find the number of cakes
baked on that day.
Solution: From the above graph,
it can be seen that the maximum
number of cakes were baked on
Saturday as the length of the bar
on Saturday is the maximum.
60 cakes were baked on that day,
as the length of the bar corresponds
to 60 on the x-axis.
Example 3: The following table shows the number of apple trees planted by
the gardener of a school in different years. Draw the bar graph to represent
the data.
Solution: The data is represented by the bar graph as
follows:
Years Number of Apple Trees
2005 150
2006 220
2007 350
2008 150
2009 300
2010 380

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References:
 https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-statistics/descriptive-
statistics/bar-chart-bar-graph-examples/
 https://www.cuemath.com/data/bar-graphs/
 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bar-graph.asp
 https://www.smartdraw.com/bar-graph/
 https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/bar-graphs.html

Bar Graph

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