In a given survey, 2 children preferred vanilla ice cream, 5 preferred chocolate ice cream, 7 preferred chocolate chip ice cream, and 10 preferred cookie dough ice cream. Asked to make a bar graph of the data, Sara chose to label the vertical axis with these numbers (2, 5, 7, 10), marking each number along the axis, one after the other. Which of the following is a true statement about this graph?
A)This is an accurate portrayal of the information.
B)The graph is distorted because the numbers are not equally spaced.
C)The graph has inaccurate or nonexistent labels on the horizontal axis.
D)The graph should have shown the individual data points.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The graph is distorted because the numbers on the vertical axis are not equally spaced. Since the numbers are not equally spaced, it can trick the viewer into thinking that the differences between the values are greater or smaller than they actually are. The graph should have a scale that is evenly spaced to represent the values accurately. Additionally, the horizontal axis is not mentioned in the question stem, so we cannot comment on it. Lastly, since the question asks for a bar graph, it is not necessary to show individual data points.

In a Given Survey, 2 Children Preferred Vanilla Ice Cream