4.1 Drawing pie charts
The best way to understand the steps involved in drawing a pie chart is to watch the worked example in the video below.
Now have a go at drawing a pie chart for yourself.
Activity 5: Drawing a pie chart
A leisure centre wants to compare which activities customers choose to do when they visit the centre. The information is shown in the table below. Draw an accurate pie chart to show this information.
Table 7
| Activity | Number of customers |
|---|---|
| Swimming | 26 |
| Gym | 17 |
| Exercise class | 20 |
| Sauna | 9 |
Answer
Firstly, work out the total number of customers: 26 + 17 + 20 + 9 = 72.
Now work out the number of degrees that represents customer: 360˚ ÷ 72 = 5˚ per customer.
Table 8
| Activity | Number of customers | Number of degrees |
|---|---|---|
| Swimming | 26 | 26 × 5 = 130˚ |
| Gym | 17 | 17 × 5 = 85˚ |
| Exercise class | 20 | 20 × 5 = 100˚ |
| Sauna | 9 | 9 × 5 = 45˚ |
Now use this information to draw your pie chart. It should look something like this:
Now that you can accurately draw a pie chart, it’s time to look at how to interpret them. You won’t always be given the actual data, you may just be given the total number represented by the chart or a section of the chart and the angles on the pie chart itself. It’s useful to know how to use your maths skills to work out the actual figures.
Here’s a reminder of the degrees of a circle which will be useful when you come to read from pie charts.
OpenLearn - Everyday Maths 2
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