Practice Misleading Graphs in Statistics
Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.
Quick Recap
Graphs can distort data through tricks like truncated axes, inconsistent scales, or cherry-picked time ranges to create false impressions.
A bar that looks 3\times taller might only represent 10% more data if the axis doesn't start at zero. It's like taking a photo from a weird angle to make someone look taller. The data is true, but the picture lies.
Example 1
easyA bar graph shows Company A's sales at 100 and Company B's sales at 110, but the y-axis starts at 95 instead of 0. How does this make the graph misleading?
Example 2
mediumA pictograph compares two companies' profits. Company X uses a small money bag symbol and Company Y uses a money bag symbol that is twice as tall AND twice as wide (so 4 times the area). Company Y's profit is actually only twice Company X's. How is this misleading?
Example 3
mediumA line graph shows monthly website visits over a year, but the x-axis is not evenly spaced — January to June are compressed into a small space while July to December are spread out. How could this affect the interpretation?
Example 4
hardA politician presents a pie chart showing their party received 45% of votes, but the 3D perspective makes their slice appear to take up more than half the chart. Identify all the misleading techniques and explain how to fix the chart.