Pie Chart Interpretation
A pie is a whole split into shares given as percentages or as degrees. Converting between the two, turning a slice into an absolute value, and comparing slices across two pies with different totals.
What you will be able to do
- Convert a slice between its percentage form and its central-angle form.
- Turn a slice into an absolute value when the pie's total is known.
- Recover the total from one slice's absolute value, then find the others.
- Compare slices across two pies only after converting both to absolute values.
What is inside this lesson
- 1A pie is a whole split into shares
- 2Percentage form and degree form
- 3From a slice to a value, and from a value to the total
- 4Comparing two pies
- 5Worked example: an operating-expense pie
- 6Common mistakes
- 7Quick revision
- 8Practice
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A pie is a whole split into shares
A pie chart shows how one total divides among a few categories. The slices always add up to the whole — 100 per cent, or 360 degrees if the chart is drawn with angles.
A pie on its own only tells you the shares. To get an actual value for any slice you need the total the pie stands for, given somewhere in the question. Some sets pair a pie with a bar chart, or give two pies with different totals; those need one conversion step before anything can be compared.
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