Bar Charts in Numerical Reasoning

Bar charts plot numeric values for categorical feature levels as bars. These are helpful in exploring and understanding data. It summarizes any information with the help of a number of bars for a particular category. The categorical information of a bar chart could be anything such as geographical location, age group, etc. One can also split each bar into other categorical columns for a given data. This splitting of each bar allows you to observe the contribution from different categories to each group of bars in the bar chart. 

Follow the write-up to learn and understand what bar charts are. And when should one use them.

What are Bar Charts?

A bar chart is a chart that represents the counts of values for categorical or nominal levels. The levels lie on the chart axis, and values of data are plotted on another axis. A bar chart is also known as a column chart in which each bar length is proportional to the bar’s value, and the categorical value claims one bar. These values lie on a common baseline for an easy comparison of values. 

What is a Numerical Bar Graph?

A numerical bar graph is a chart used in mathematical calculation using rectangular columns or bars. The rectangular columns or bars used in the data representation are called bins. It represents the total observation of the data for any particular category. 

When Should you Use a Bar Chart?

One uses a bar chart when they want to compare metric values in various subgroups of data or want to show a distribution of data points. One can see how other subgroups compare against the others and which subgroups are most common or highest from the given bar chart. Although it is a quite common task, the bar charts are relatively the universal chart type. 

The categorical variable of a bar chart is its primary variable, taking discrete values, which are often considered labels. Examples of the categorical label include the industry type, visitor type, state or country, and website access method. These have a sequence value, such as dividing various objects by small, medium or large size. 

Moreover, one can convert the non-categorical variables into groups by computing the temporal data based on the available dates. The groups of the primary variables are distinct, which is a very important point for the variable. 

The values of secondary variables that show the length of each bar in a bar chart will be numeric. These values are obtained from a huge variety of sources. Often the values may be a simple proportion of the amount of data distributed in each category. Though, the second variable does not feature the actual data at all.  

Best Ways to Use Bar Charts for Numerical Reasoning 

Following are the ways to use bar charts for numerical reasoning:

Using a common zero-valued baseline

Ensure that all bars of the chart lie against the zero-value baseline. It makes it easier for a person to maintain the truthfulness of data visualization and compare the bar lengths accordingly. A bar chart having a gap in the scale of the axis and a non-zero baseline can easily misreport the comparison. As the ratio in the length of the bar will not be the same as the ratio in actual values, it will result in a false comparison between different groups. 

Maintaining rectangular forms for your bars

Do not mess with the bar shapes, which must be plotted on the charts across the page. The chart tools will enable you to orbit the caps of the bar instead of having straight edges. The orbiting of the bar caps shows that it is difficult for a person to read the real value. Ensure that each bar is adequate to anticipate its actual value and allow a simpler comparison among the bars. However, a little orbiting of the bars is okay. 

Likewise, one should not include the 3D effects on the bars, as it can make it difficult to calculate the lengths of the bars on the charts. Often it might result in no alignment for the baselines. 

Using colours wisely 

Wise use of colours is another consideration you should make in the bar charts. Different 

tools will colour the bar differently. Although, it can distract an individual by applying additional meaning. One should use the colours if they are meaningful for the specific category posted. 

Conclusion 

Bar charts are very helpful in measuring the numerical values and exploring and understanding a given data. It shows the count of numbers for nominal or categorical levels, in which the bar length is equivalent to the bar’s value. If one needs to solve the questions related to this subject, they will have to learn what bar charts are? When and how to use them to represent the information easily. Once you learn and understand the use of the bar chart, you are more likely to save your time in solving numerical reasonings for competitive exams.