Graph
Interpret pictographs
Use seven ordered categories and a whole-symbol key to answer seven questions about totals, comparisons and groups.
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Interpret line plots
Read an easy categorical stacked-X display or a hard numerical frequency plot. Answer ten questions using the displayed key and data.
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Read the key before counting X marks. In easy practice compare category totals; in hard practice each X is one observation at its numerical value.
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Customize this worksheetRead the scale before starting
Read the axis or symbol key before answering. Hard drawing tasks state a conversion between table and axis units. A stack of X marks or pictures is a quantity only after applying its printed key.
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Learning objective
What this activity builds
Distinguish a category count from a numerical value and use frequencies to answer questions.
Worked example
A numerical line plot has three X marks at 4. What do they mean?
Three observations equal 4, contributing 12 to the data sum.
The height is the frequency, three. The axis value is four; multiplying value by frequency gives its contribution to the sum.
Teaching notes
Make the practice count
- Easy uses five named categories and an explicit X-to-count key. A teacher must explain the printed scale before using it for an early counting lesson.
- Hard uses values 1–7 with X = 1 observation; it is a different task, not just larger category counts.
- Hard questions include modes, cumulative counts, probability, weighted sum and mean. Round only as the prompt requests: probabilities to tenths of a percent and the mean to hundredths.
- For less-than or greater-than comparisons, exclude observations equal to the pivot.
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