Steply

Frequency density: 10-20: 7, 20-25: 9, 25-30: 12, 30-50: 8

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 10-20: 7, 20-25: 9, 25-30: 12, 30-50: 8.

frequency density: 10-20: 7, 20-25: 9, 25-30: 12, 30-50: 8

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: 10, 5, 5, 20.

2 Frequency density

Frequency density is the frequency divided by the width: 7 ÷ 10 = 0.7, 9 ÷ 5 = 1.8, 12 ÷ 5 = 2.4, 8 ÷ 20 = 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: 0.7 for the first.

Now the area of each bar shows its frequency.

4 Check

Let's check: width times height gives back each frequency: 7, 9, 12, 8.

So the bars are right!

10 × 0.7 = 7, 5 × 1.8 = 9, 5 × 2.4 = 12, 20 × 0.4 = 8

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: 10-20: 3, 20-25: 13, 25-30: 20, 30-50: 16
Show the answer
heights 0.3, 2.6, 4, 0.8

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