Steply

Frequency density: 0-30: 12, 30-40: 14, 40-45: 9, 45-60: 6

Step by step, with the reason for every step · Histograms with unequal class widths · Statistics

Step by step

The question

Question: draw the histogram for 0-30: 12, 30-40: 14, 40-45: 9, 45-60: 6.

frequency density: 0-30: 12, 30-40: 14, 40-45: 9, 45-60: 6

The classes are not the same width.

So the bars cannot just be as high as the frequency.

1 Class widths

A table: each class and its frequency.

The width of a class is its end minus its start: 30, 10, 5, 15.

2 Frequency density

Frequency density is the frequency divided by the width: 12 ÷ 30 = 0.4, 14 ÷ 10 = 1.4, 9 ÷ 5 = 1.8, 6 ÷ 15 = 0.4.

The rule for the height of each bar.

frequency density = frequencyclass width

Careful!

With different widths, a wide bar as high as its frequency would look too big.

Its area must be the frequency.

Careful: bar height = frequency density, not frequency

3 Draw the bars

Across: the classes.

Up: the frequency density.

Each bar goes across its whole class and up to its density: 0.4 for the first.

Now the area of each bar shows its frequency.

4 Check

Let's check: width times height gives back each frequency: 12, 14, 9, 6.

So the bars are right!

30 × 0.4 = 12, 10 × 1.4 = 14, 5 × 1.8 = 9, 15 × 0.4 = 6

Let's look back.

First: class widths.

Then: frequency density.

Then: draw the bars.

Last: check.

Answer
frequency density = frequencyclass width

Your turn

Try this one yourself, then check:

frequency density: 0-30: 9, 30-40: 3, 40-45: 8, 45-60: 12
Show the answer
heights 0.3, 0.3, 1.6, 0.8

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