The idea
Data diagrams must be read using their title, labels, key and scale.
Follow these steps
- Read the title, key and axis intervals first.
- Extract only the required values.
- Perform the requested comparison or calculation and retain the data unit.
See the method in action
Example 1
How many books did the four classes other than Beech read altogether?
- The bar heights are 11, 19, 9, 26, 17.
- Add Ash, Cedar, Dale and Elm.
- The answer is 63.
Example 2
How many more books did Dale read than Cedar?
- The bar heights are 11, 19, 9, 26, 17.
- Subtract Cedar's count from Dale's.
- The answer is 17.
A useful shortcut
Perform the requested comparison or calculation and retain the data unit.
Watch out for these
Three fresh questions
Ready to check the method? You will get three fresh, validated questions.