CPSC 130
Computing With Spreadsheets
Week 4
How to Lie with
Graphs and Charts
“A picture is worth a thousand
words”
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
2
from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte, 1983
from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte, 1983
Lying with Perspective
from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte, 1983
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
5
from The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information,
Edward Tufte, 1983
Need Units
from Exploring Microsoft Excel 97, Grauer & Barber, 1998
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
7
Dissimilar Quantities
from Exploring
Microsoft Excel 97,
Grauer & Barber,
1998
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
8
from Calvin College Chimes, Oct. 6, 2000
Calvin
College
Chimes,
Sept. 29,
2000
Speak the Truth
Lying graphics cheapen the graphical
art everywhere… When a chart on
television lies, it lies millions of times
over; when a New York Times chart
lies, it lies 900,000 times over to a great
many important and influential readers.
- Edward Tufte
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
11
Using Graphics Properly
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Let the graphic values/change
accurately depict the data
values/change
Clearly label all relevant details
Don’t graphically mix dissimilar
elements
Use the right type of graph
5/29/2016
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
12
Chart Types
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Pie charts
Column/bar charts
Data tables
Maps
5/29/2016
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Parts of a whole
Relative info
Last resort
Geographical info
Brenda Vander Linden and
Aaron Armstrong
13