Histograms

Definition of a Histogram
AHistogramdisplaysarangeofvaluesofa

variablethathavebeenbrokenintogroupsor
intervals.
Histogramsareusefulifyouaretryingtograph
alargesetofquantitativedata
TomakeaHistogram,youdividetherangeof
dataintointervalsofequallength,countthe
numberofobservationsineachinterval,and
representeachintervalwithabarindicatingthe
numberofobservations.

Disenfranchisement Rates for

all 50 States
0

8.1

24.9

6.6

9.2

1.5

17.1

3.9

14

11.3

2.8

1.2

4.6

2.8

16.1

3.1

10.3

17.4

7.2

2.4

7.9

24.7

14.2

8.3

14.3

16

18.9

5.7

2.8

0.8

0.7

3.5

12.9

6.2

1.5

2.8

4.2

2.6

8.3

1.5

3.7

9.2

4.2

8.4

2.6

Step 1: Sort the Data from Lowest to

Highest
0

2.6

7.9

14

2.8

8.1

14.2

0.7

2.8

4.2

8.3

14.3

0.8

2.8

4.2

8.3

16

1.2

2.8

4.6

8.4

16.1

1.5

9.2

17.1

1.5

3.1

5.7

9.2

17.4

1.5

3.5

6.2

10.3

18.9

2.4

3.7

6.6

11.3

24.7

2.6

3.9

7.2

12.9

24.9

Step 2:

Determine how many groups of

data you want to have. ***
For example, well use 5 groups

Step 3:

Determine the approximate range

of the set of data
0% through 24.9% (approximately 25%)

Step 4:

From Steps 2 and 3, determine the

range of each individual group
I decided to have 5 groups. The range
is from 0% - 25%. 25% divided by 5 is
5%. So each group should have a
range of 5%.

Step 5:

Make a list of the groups you will be

using.
Group 1: 0% - 5%
Group 2: 5% - 10%
Group 3: 10% - 15%
Group 4: 15% - 20%
Group 5: 20% - 25%

Step 6:

Using your data, count how many

numbers fall into each group
Group 1: 0% - 4.99%
Group 2: 5% - 9.99%
Group 3: 10% - 14.99%
Group 4: 15% - 19.99%
Group 5: 20% - 25%

25
12
6
5
2

Step 7: graph each group

25

12

5
2

***Determine the cell

interval

Cell interval = distance between

adjacent cell midpoints. If possible,
use odd interval values e.g. 0.001,
0.07, 0.5 , 3; so that midpoint values
will have same no. decimal places as
data values.
Use Sturgis rule.
i = 1+ 3.322 log n
Trial and error
h = R/i ;h= number of cells or
classes