Data Interpretation — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. A basketball graph shows Player A scored 24 and Player B scored 22, but bars look twice as tall for A. The y-axis must ___.
A) start at a value much higher than zero
B) show every player on the team
C) use percentages instead of points
D) include a tally chart on the side
A truncated y-axis stretches small gaps into large visual differences.
2. An economist combines a line graph of yearly inflation with a bar graph of average wages. What is the biggest benefit of pairing the two?
A) It uses fewer colors than separate graphs
B) It compares trends in both at the same time
C) It hides confusing numbers from readers
D) It removes the need for any axis labels
Pairing graphs reveals relationships between two variables across time.
3. A magazine shows runners with broken-pencil symbols on a pictograph but no key. The chart fails because ___.
A) it includes too many runners total
B) it uses only blue ink for the symbols
C) the value of each symbol is not defined
D) it has alphabetical order on the y-axis
Missing keys make pictographs unreadable for actual quantities.
4. A data report combines a table of population by city, a line graph of growth, and a pie chart of age groups. The clearest story comes from ___.
A) picking only the table for accuracy
B) ignoring the pie chart for simplicity
C) using only the line graph for speed
D) reading all three together to get full context
Combined displays give totals, trends, and breakdowns together for clarity.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Cutting off the bottom of a y-axis to make changes look bigger creates a misleading graph.
Without a zero baseline, bar comparisons exaggerate small differences.
2. When an economist tracks the cost of bread over 10 years, a line graph best shows the trend.
Line graphs are designed to show change over a time period.
3. A sports almanac that lists wins, losses, and ties for each team is best read as a table.
Tables give precise numerical detail not always visible on graphs.
4. If a pie chart slice for rent is half the circle, rent equals 50 percent of expenses.
Pie chart slices show fractions of a whole expressed as percents.
5. A graph missing units, scale, or a title is hard to trust because it lacks context.
Context labels explain what numbers mean and how they are measured.