In statistics, histogram is a graphical representation, showing a visual impression of the distribution of data.

It is an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable and was first introduced by Karl Pearson. A histogram consists of tabular frequencies, shown as adjacent rectangles, erected over discrete intervals (bins), with an area equal to the frequency of the observations in the interval. The height of a rectangle is also equal to the frequency density of the interval

What is a Histogram?
A histogram is "a representation of a frequency distribution by means of rectangles whose widths represent class intervals and whose areas are proportional to the corresponding frequencies."

Uses of Histogram
1. The Histogram is particularly appropriate when the variable is continues. 2. It is appropriate for both equal and unequal class interval (bins). Example: Consider the set {3, 11, 12, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, 36, 37, 45, and 49}. A graph which shows how many ones, how many twos, how many threes, etc. would be meaningless. Instead we bin the data into convenient ranges. In this case, with a bin width of 10, we can easily group the data as below. Note: Changing the size of the bin changes the appearance of the graph and the conclusions you may draw from it.

Data Range 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

Frequency 1 3 6 4 2

Pie Chart
Pie charts are useful to compare different parts of a whole amount. They are often used to present financial information. E.g. A company's expenditure can be shown to be the sum of its parts including different expense categories such as salaries, borrowing interest, taxation and general running costs (i.e. rent, electricity, heating etc). A pie chart is a circular chart in which the circle is divided into sectors. Each sector visually represents an item in a data set to match the amount of the item as a percentage or fraction of the total data set.

Uses of Pie Chart

1. The pie chart or Pie diagram is used to represent the frequencies or percentages among the categories of nominal or ordinal variables by displaying the categories as segment of a circle.

2. To compare to or more types of categorical data, pie diagram is more preferable.

Example
A family's weekly expenditure on its house mortgage, food and fuel is as follows:

Draw a pie chart to display the information.

Solution:

We can find what percentage of the total expenditure each item equals. Percentage of weekly expenditure on:

To draw a pie chart, divide the circle into 100 percentage parts. Then allocate the number of percentage parts required for each item.

Note:

It is simple to read a pie chart. Just look at the required sector representing an item (or category) and read off the value. For example, the weekly expenditure of the family on food is 37.5% of the total expenditure measured. A pie chart is used to compare the different parts that make up a whole amount.