Bar and Line Graph Interpretation
Reading grouped and stacked bar charts and single or multi-series line graphs: telling a segment from a total, reading a trend, and measuring change between two points.
What you will be able to do
- Tell a grouped bar from a stacked bar and read a single segment in each.
- Read a line graph for trend, peak, trough, and rate of change.
- Measure percentage change between two points on the same series.
- Distinguish a period figure from a cumulative one.
What is inside this lesson
- 1What bars and lines are for
- 2Reading a bar chart
- 3Reading a line graph
- 4Change between two points
- 5Worked example: two loan series
- 6Common mistakes
- 7Quick revision
- 8Practice
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What bars and lines are for
A bar chart compares separate categories — branches, quarters, products. Bars can be grouped (two or three bars standing side by side for each category) or stacked (one bar split into coloured segments that add up to the bar's height).
A line graph shows how one quantity moves across an ordered scale, almost always time. Several lines on one grid compare series. The exam gives the picture; here the same numbers are given as a small table so you can practise the reading, which is the part that matters.
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