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Study the following passage and summarize it into

notes form.

Chart types and their uses

Column Charts:

Column charts use vertical bars (called columns) to display different values of one or

more items. They are used to compare values across categories. They are ideal for

showing the variations in the value of an item over time (e.g. budget).

According to symbolism and graphic principles, they better suit the visualization of

data which are related with height. For example, if I want to compare the volume or

quantity for any product or item, I would use this format.

Bar Charts:

Bar charts are almost the same type as column charts. The difference is that they use

horizontal bars instead of vertical ones.

Bar charts compare values across categories and are ideal for showing the variations

in the value of an item over time, or for showing the values of several items at a singlepoint in time.

They can be used to compare different distances or speed, since the horizontal layout

helps the human eye to better imagine what they represent. For example: you want to

show how Lamborghini performs compared to Ferrari and Lotus. You want to display

their performance related to maximum speed, acceleration and gasoline usage. The

better chart type to use in this case is a bar chart. It can visualize all the data through

its horizontal bars, giving your audience a symbolic representation of their

performance.

Another good reason to use bar charts is when you realize that the number of data

series better fits in a horizontal format. PowerPoint prints and displays the slides in

landscape orientation. So if you have long gaps between different values and you have

also many items to compare, the bar chart type is the best one to use.

Line Charts:

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These charts are very useful to show a temporal trend over time and are often used to

show variations in the value of more than one item over time.

Imagine you want to compare the grades of your students over their college career.

You may want to use the line chart since it will show, with different line colors and

styles, the values of the single grades each student obtained during a lapse of time. In

this case, you will have different points in your plan showing the different grades

corresponding to the different years of study. The line chart will just connect for you

these points using straight lines.

Pie Charts:

Pie charts are a very effective way to display information when you want to represent

the different parts of a whole, or the percentages of a total.

Pie charts display the contribution of each value to a total Pie graphs can represent

only one data series (one row or column of data only).

Many examples can be found for this chart type: when you want to display how the

parliament of one country is divided into the different political parties (each politicalparty will be assigned either with the number of seats or with its percentage. Each

slice or sector of the pie will show this value. All the values for all the slices, together,

will make the total).

For instance, you can use the pie chart to compare the different countries of origin of

a class of students, or the allocation of the yearly budget to different sectors of your

company.

The pie chart, both in 2-D and 3-D, gives you the useful option to extrapolate a single

slice from the pie to better stress its value by displaying it separated from the other

slices.

An option that you will find for almost all of the chart types is the "stacked" version

of charts. Using this method, values that are compatible or similar can be added on the

same column or bar. In the example about Lamborghini and Ferrari, you can have

only one column or bar for each model of car, and within the specific column you will

see three different values, the maximum speed, the acceleration and the gasoline

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usage. In a few words, you have a comparison between the contribution of each value

to a total, across time or categories.