DI – Line Graphs

LINE GRAPH

A line graph or partesian graph indicates the change of the quantity of a given parameter with
respect to another parameter, on the Y and X axis respectively. Generally, time is represented
on the X-axis (year or month etc.) and Y-axis represents the other variable parameter with
different, discrete values at different time points.

In the line graph following points are to be remembered

a) Any part of the line graph which is parallel to X-axis represents no change in the value of
Y parameter with respect to value of X-parameter.
b) Maximum percentage change of the value during the two consecutive periods is given
by the steepest or maximum part of the line graph
c) Most of the questions are about the trends and rate of change

Example: The following line graph gives us the data for the sales in 5 different years (million $):

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

1) Which of the following can be said about the trend displayed in the graph?
a) Consistent increase
b) Consistent decrease
c) Increase and decrease in alternate years
d) No trend

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As is evident there is no trend as there are 2 successive decreases in the last 2 years and
there is alternate increase and decrease in the rest of the years. Trend means the direction
of change is same across the years.

2) Maximum percentage increase occurs in which year?

a) 2002
b) 2003
c) 2004
d) None of the above

The graph increases the steepest in 2003, therefore option B

3) The maximum percentage change occurs in which year?

a) 2002
b) 2003
c) 2004
d) None of the above

Percentage change means that it can be an increase or decrease. The 2 major steep changes
in graph occurs in 2003 and 2007. By observation you can make out the change in 2007 is
steeper than in 2003. Therefore option D.

4) The minimum percentage change occurs in which of the following year?

a) 2002
b) 2004
c) 2005
d) None of the above

Remember, percentage change in a line graph is not indicated the magnitude of the
movement of the line but the slope of the line i.e. whether the change in the direction of
line is gradual or sharp. The least sharp changes occur in 2002, 2004 and 2005. However by
observation you can make out that the least sharp change in the line is in 2002. Therefore
option A.

5) If the percentage change over the next 7 years is identical to the percentage change as
given in the graph then what will be the sales in 2013?
a) 15
b) 18
c) 21

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d) 25

In questions like these you don’t need to consider the individual changes in the year. You
can just take the 1st and the last year i.e. change over the entire period. Sales in 2007 are
almost 60% of sales in 2001.So sales in 2013 should be 60% of sales in 2007.

Sales in 2007= 36

Likely sales of 2013= 60% of 36 = 21.6

Therefore option C

Example 2: The following line graph gives us information about the scores of 3 students in 5
different exams:

60

50

40

A
30
B
C
20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

1) Which of the following statements is true?

a) Each of the graph shows a definite trend
b) There is a definite pattern in the movement of the graphs
c) No person has got the highest score in any 2 successive exams
d) No person has got the lowest score in any 2 successive exams

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Trend refers to the direction of change. We can see that scores of A alternately increase and
decrease, so we cannot say there is a definite trend in each graph. B has scored the highest
in the last 2 exams. C has scored the lowest in the 2nd and 3rd exams. So statements c and d
are not true. Each graph shows a definite pattern of movement. While graph of B increases
continuously. C decreases continuously, A increases and decreases alternately. Therefore
correct answer is Option B.

2) Which of the following statements is true?

a) B has got more highest scores than anyone else
b) C has got more lowest scores than anyone else
c) There are 2 exams where everyone has a distinct score
d) None of the above

B has got the highest scores in exams 3,4 and 5 where as C has got the highest scores in
exam 1,2 and 3. Therefore option a is not true. C has got the lowest scores in exams 4 and 5
whereas A has got the lowest scores in exams 2, 3 and 4. Therefore option B is not true.
Everyone has a distinct score in exams 1, 2 and 5. Therefore option C is not true. Therefore
correct answer is option D.

3) Which of the following has seen the highest percentage growth?

a) B in exam 2
b) A in exam 3
c) A in exam 5
d) None of the above

C has not seen any growth. B has seen growth in all the exams and A has seen growth in
exams 3 and 5. We know that the quantum or magnitude of growth is given by the
steepness of the line. The sharper the movement of the line,. Higher is the growth. However
to calculate the percentage we need to divide the quantity of increase by the base or the
point from which the increase has taken place. If you see the graph of A’s scores, the
steepness is more or less similar in exams 3 and 5. This can be seen from the fact that the
line in these 2 sections is almost parallel to each other. The base figure for the increase in
exam 3 is exam 2 and the base of the increase in exam 5 is exam 4. Score of exam 2 is less
than the score of exam 4. Therefore the denominator while calculating percentage increase
is lower in exam 3 than in exam 5. Therefore percentage increase for A is higher in exam 3.
So the highest percentage increase for A is in exam 3.

Now if you see B, the sharpest change is in exam 2. However again we see that the section
of graph of B from exam 1 to exam 2 is almost parallel to section of graph of A from exam 2
to exam 3. This means that the change is almost identical. Since the score of B in exam 1 is

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lower i.e. base is lower (therefore denominator is smaller) therefore percentage increase
for B is higher. Therefore option A.

4) In which exam is the sum of the scores of all 3 the highest?

a) Exam 1
b) Exam 2
c) Exam 3
d) Exm 4
e) Exam 5

It is evident that the highest score of all 3 will be either in exam 1 or 3 or5. It is easy
calculate for exam 3 since all 3 are close to 35-36. Therefore total in exam 3 is close to 105-
108. It can be inferred from observation alone that total scores in exam 1 and 5 are more
than the score in exam. So exam 3 cannot be the answer.

Lets compare exam 1 and 5. B in exam 1 is equal to C in exam 5. A in exam 1 is substantially

higher than A in exam 5 and C in exam 1 is marginally lower than B in exam 5. Therefore
highest score is in exam 1. Therefore option A.

Learning:

1) All the questions were done without using any data whatsoever. This will not be the
case always but one should consciously try to develop this approach and try it rigorously
in practice.
2) Options give you a lot of information, particularly in complicated questions. Most of the
time you can eliminate 2 options.
3) Certain questions like questions number 1, require understanding of key terms (patterns
vs trends) or are typical questions. Once you have done such questions you must almost
memorize them so that you understand them better next time you come across them.
4) In pictorial graphs like line graphs, small visible cues can help a lot. For example here,
the observation regarding the steepness of the curve or the section of 2 curves being
parallel to each other helped us solve questions

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