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© Peter Broadfoot 2008
Histograms
Histograms
To PRINT, click the Home button for the Edu-Sol Resources page. Then download the printable PDF version.
You can then print individual pages or the whole booklet.
Contents
GCSE Maths
Frequency Polygons
Foundation and Higher Tiers
p 1
Revision of Bar Charts
p 2
p 2
p 3
p 3
Introduction to Histograms
p 4
p 4
p 5
p
6
p 7
p 8
p 8
p 9
Drawing Frequency Diagrams
in the Exam
p 10
p 10
p 10
p 11
p 12
p 14
p 14
p 15
p 16
Frequency Density
p 18
p 18
p 19
p 20
p 21
p 22
p 22
p 23
p 23
p 24
p 25
Appendices
A
p 27
B
p 28
GCSE Mathematics
This booklet is for the GCSE Maths Higher tier. It may be more suited to those, possibly adult students,
who cannot attend formal classes or who do not have time in class to cover the Higher tier material. It
could be useful for non-specialist teachers, who may need more detail than you find in a typical textbook.
Statistics, with its reliance on sophisticated charts, particularly the histogram, can be a problem given that
some students have limited experience of traditional x-y graphs. My experience with mature students is
that tackling the intricacies of histograms and frequency density, with only a vague recollection of graph
plotting, is a challenge.
Fortunately, in the GCSE Maths specification, the emphasis on continuous data and the assumption that
measurements are 100% accurate make histograms more ‘digestible’. The treatment can progress logically
from bar charts, for discrete data, to grouped continuous data and hence the histogram. Histograms for
grouped, discrete data, with the extra complications that involves, is not required. Perhaps though, students
should at least be aware that histograms are used with large ranges of discrete data.
The booklet starts with a review of bar charts. The Foundation tier does not require you to draw or
interpret a histogram and does not expect any knowledge of frequency density. The sections on qualitative
and quantitative bar charts are relevant to Foundation. Students are likely to have covered grouped data
already, and created grouped tables from raw data. The booklet introduces grouping as a natural
requirement of the need to chart continuous data. In the introduction to histograms the classes are equal
width, and frequency, not frequency density, is used. This should make histograms more accessible.
Frequency density, required for the Higher tier, is covered in a later section.
Copyright. You are permitted to download and print copies of this document for educational use only. You are not permitted to
alter, store (in any medium), transmit, adapt or change the content in any way. Any rights not expressly granted in these
conditions are hereby reserved.
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