Types of Charts
What you need to know:
• This objective will explain six common
charts used in business. The object of
the game in this objective is to
understand how each chart is used to
communicate information.
• For example, if you are trying to
compare the sales of Honda Civics to
the sales of Nisson Altimas, what chart
will best explain the data?
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 2
How do you know which chart to use?
• In this PowerPoint, each chart will be
defined and described with an example
of the data it is most appropriately
suited to represent
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 3
Column Chart
• The first chart we will study is a Column
Chart
• It is used to make comparisons about
groups of data
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 4
Column Chart
Seniors
Spirit Participation
Juniors
Sophomores
Attendance Rate
100
80
60
40
20
0
January
February
March
April
Month
This chart compares Senior, Junior, and Sophomore attendance rates at
assemblies over a period of four months.
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 5
Compare
• View the next four slides to compare
how the Spirit Participation data is
represented in different charts and then
decide which chart makes the most
sense of the information
• Remember, you are comparing
attendance rates of students over a
period of four months
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 6
Stacked Bar
April
March
Month
This chart focuses
more on each
group’s
contribution to the
whole for any
given month
Spirit Participation
February
January
0
Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
50
100
150
200
Percent
Slide 7
Line
Spirit Participation
100
90
80
70
Percent
This chart
would be okay
if we were
analyzing
trends in
attendance
rates, but it
does not
provide a good
side-by-side
comparison
Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
January
February
March
April
Month
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 8
XY Scatter
Spirit Participation
100
90
80
Percent
70
60
Juniors
50
Seniors
40
Sophomores
30
20
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Month
This chart is trying to determine if there is a
correlation between the month and the attendance
rate
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 9
Pie
Sophomores
Finally, this chart is
useless for
representing the
data because it
only allows for one
data series.
24%
25%
January
February
March
April
25%
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
26%
Slide 10
What did you think?
• Which chart best represented the data?
• Why?
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 11
Stacked Bar Chart
• The next common business chart we
will view is a Stacked Bar Chart
• It is used to represent the
contribution of individual items to
a whole
• Each bar is divided into two or more parts
• The length of the stacked bar represents a
total
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 12
Stacked Bar
8,000
3rd Quarter
7,000
15,755
3,500
3,500
25,000
Period
4th Quarter
2nd Quarter
8,000
5,000
1st Quarter
0
12,575
10,500
10,000
ABC
Computers
Quarterly
Report
Sales
Analysis
2,500
Printers
Computers
Monitors
3,300
20,000
30,000
40,000
Sales (in Thousands)
This example shows the contributions of three components: Computers, Printers,
and Monitors to total sales during each quarter (three-month period)
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 13
Compare
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 14
Column
30,000
25,000
Sales (in Thousands)
This chart does
not accurately
represent the
contributions of
each part to the
whole and is
instead
comparing them
against each
other
ABC Computers Quarterly Report
Component Analysis
20,000
Printers
15,000
Computers
Monitors
10,000
5,000
0
1st
Quarter
2nd
Quarter
3rd
Quarter
Quarter
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
4th
Quarter
Bar
Slide 15
Line
ABC Company Quarterly Report
Component Analysis
30,000
25,000
Sales (in Thousands)
What about
this chart?
Can you
clearly
identify each
component’s
contribution
to the
whole?
20,000
Printers
15,000
Computers
Monitors
10,000
5,000
0
1st
Quarter
2nd
Quarter
3rd
Quarter
Quarter
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
4th
Quarter
Line
Slide 16
XY Scatter
ABC Computers Quarterly Report
30,000
25,000
Sales (in Thousands)
Why does
this chart
not work?
20,000
Printers
15,000
Computers
Monitors
10,000
5,000
0
0
1
2
3
Quarter
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
4
5
XY Scatter
Slide 17
Pie
ABC Computers Quarterly Report
Component Analysis
The chart
only looks at
one
department
18%
29%
1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
28%
4th Quarter
25%
Pie
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 18
What did you think?
• Which chart best represented the data?
• Why?
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 19
Line Chart
• The next common business chart we
will view is a Line Chart
• It is used to indicate trends in data
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 20
Line Chart
Which
department
showed the most
growth?
Which
department
showed a steady
increase in sales?
Which
department
showed a decline
in sales?
Sales Trends by Department

Sales (in Thousands)
60,000
50,000
40,000
Music
30,000
Shoes
Clothing
20,000
10,000
0
1st Quarter
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
2nd
Quarter
3rd Quarter 4th Quarter
Period
Slide 21
Compare
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 22
Column
61,000
51,000
41,000
Music
31,000
Shoes
21,000
Clothing
11,000
Q
ua
rte
2n
r
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Q
ua
rte
3r
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Q
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rte
4t
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Q
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r te
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1,000
1s
t
•In the line chart,
trends were clearly
and quickly analyzed
just by looking at the
lines
Sales Trends by Department
Sales (in Thousands)
•To analyze the
trends in this chart,
the reader must read
each data series
separately and then
make comparisons
and generalizations
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Quarter
Bar
Slide 23
Stacked Bar
Does this chart
describe
trends?
Sales Trends by Department
Quarter
4th Quarter
3rd Quarter
2nd Quarter
1st Quarter
Music
Shoes
-
20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000
Sales (in Thousands)
Clothing
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Stacked Bar
Slide 24
Pie
Music
The pie
chart fails to
present all
of the data
15%
1st Quarter
41%
19%
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter
25%
Pie
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 25
What did you think?
• Which chart best represented the data?
• Why?
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 26
XY Scatter
• The next common business chart is an
XY Scatter Chart
• Used to indicate a correlation
between two or more sets of data
• A business example of an XY Chart is
one that represents the effect (if any)
of caffeine on worker productivity
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 27
XY Scatter
What affect
did the wait
time in the
doctor’s office
have on pulse
rate?
140
120
Pulse Rate
What affect
did the wait
time in the
principal’s
office have on
pulse rate?
Stress Analysis
100
80
Principal's
Office
60
Doctor's
Office
40
20
0
0
5
10
15
Wait Time (in Minutes)
This data is fictional
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 28
Compare
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 29
Column
Principal's Office Pulse Rate
Principal's Office Minutes
Doctor's Office Pulse Rate
Doctor's Office Minutes
Stress Rates
140
120
Pulse Rate
As you can
see, if this
chart is used,
the data is
confusing and
not easily
interpreted
100
80
60
40
20
0
1
2
3
4
M inutes
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
5
6
Bar
Slide 30
Stacked Bar
Stress Rates
6
5
Minutes
This chart is
also hard to
interpret
Principal's Office Pulse Rate
Principal's Office Minutes
Doctor's Office Pulse Rate
Doctor's Office Minutes
4
3
2
1
0
50
100
150
Pulse Rate
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
200
250
Stacked Bar
Slide 31
Pie
Principal's Office Pulse Rate
The pie chart,
once again, is
clearly not the
preferred chart for
representing and
communicating
the data!
125
60
1
70
2
3
4
80
100
90
5
6
Pie
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 32
What did you think?
• Which chart best represented the data?
• Why?
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 33
Pie Chart and Exploded Pie
• Pie Chart: Used to represent only
one series of data
– Examples:
• % of each expenditure in a budget
• % of each investment type in a portfolio
– It answers the question, “What is the
percentage of each part to the whole?”
• Exploded Pie: Used to emphasize
one or more portions of the data
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 34
Pie Chart
Which item
contributed
the most
percent to
total sales?
Financial Budget
East Region
13%
13%
Printers
17%
PDAs
Desktops
57%
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Laptops
Slide 35
Exploded Pie Chart
Music Sales by Genre
16%
27%
Classical
Country
24%
Rock
Hip Hop
33%
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 36
Review: Can you identify the charts?
1. Represents the contribution of individual
items to the whole
2. Indicates trends in data
3. Makes comparisons about groups of data
4. Emphasizes one or more portions of the
data
5. Represents only one series of data
6. Indicates a correlation
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 37
That’s all folks . . .
• Let’s get busy and chart some data!
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 38
Stacked Bar
8,000
3rd Quarter
7,000
15,755
3,500
3,500
25,000
Period
4th Quarter
8,000
2nd Quarter
5,000
1st Quarter
0
2,500
12,575
10,500
10,000
ABC
Computers
Quarterly
Report
Sales
Analysis
Printers
Computers
Monitors
3,300
20,000
30,000
40,000
Sales (in Thousands)
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 39
XY Scatter
Stress Analysis
140
Pulse Rate
120
100
80
Principal's
Office
60
Doctor's
Office
40
20
0
0
5
10
15
Wait Time (in Minutes)
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 40
Column Chart
Seniors
Spirit Participation
Juniors
Sophomores
Attendance Rate
100
80
60
40
20
0
January
February
March
April
Month
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 41
Exploded Pie
Music Sales by Genre
16%
27%
Classical
Country
24%
Rock
Hip Hop
33%
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 42
Pie
Financial Budget
East Region
13%
13%
Printers
17%
PDAs
Desktops
57%
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Laptops
Slide 43
Line
Sales Trends by Department
Sales (in Thousands)
60,000
50,000
40,000
Music
30,000
Shoes
Clothing
20,000
10,000
0
1st Quarter
2nd
Quarter
3rd Quarter 4th Quarter
Period
4.02 Understand charts and graphs used in business.
Slide 44