Look at the scale on the 𝒙-axis on this bar chart. It goes up in 2s. Look at the numbers reached by each bar. Computer activities are the most popular, enjoyed by 12 children.

are bar charts that show how many people of different ages are living in a place or country. Population pyramids show the bars arranged sideways, rather than upwards.

William Playfair, the father of data visualisation, changed the way we understand information. His bar graphs, pie charts, and line graphs remain essential tools today, yet his name is barely known.

If you’re a biomedical researcher and you’re using bar graphs for continuous data, Tracey L. Weissgerber has one word for you: “Stop.” Weissgerber, a physiologist at Mayo Clinic, is on a ...