Fun with Diagrams
When visualizing data, many options are available. Pie charts can be used to show percentages of a whole, and represents percentages at a set point in time. A bar chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. Vertical bar charts are sometimes called a column chart. Histograms are a graphical representation that organize a group of data points into user-specified ranges. Similar in appearance to a bar graph, the histogram condenses a data series into an easily interpreted visual by taking many data points and grouping them into logical ranges or bins.
And then there are scatter plots, radar charts, heatmaps and many many many more. Another fun one is the Venn diagram. It uses circles to show the relationships among things or finite groups of things. Circles that overlap have a commonality while circles that do not overlap do not share those traits. Venn diagrams help to visually represent the similarities and differences between two concepts. As with pie charts, venn diagrams cause a lot of discussions - you kind of either love or hate them. Guess what we think?
