Translating a histogram into words

Here is a series of different histogram shapes, each depicting a different distribution. To translate the shape of the histogram into words that describe the frequency distribution, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:

• Is there a clear pattern to the shape?
• What are the most and least frequent values and where do they occur in the histogram?
• Is it possible to make an educated guess about where the mean value for the distribution lies?
• How frequent is that mean value?

The first of these four histograms is given as a worked example. Go through this one first and then try the other three.

Here the values range from 1 to 20.
The frequency of the values increases steadily as the values increase.
The most frequent values occur at the right hand end of the x axis and so are the highest values.
The least frequent values occur at the left hand end of the x axis and are, of course, the lowest values.
The mean will occur somewhere between the highest column and the middle column.
The mean value is closer to the right hand end of the x axis, so its frequency will be high.

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