6 Line graphs
Now that you’ve had a look at pie charts and bar charts, let’s take a look at line graphs. These are drawn by marking (or plotting) points and then joining them with a straight line. You might have seen them used in holiday brochures or maybe on the television.
Hint: It is best to use graph or squared paper when drawing line graphs because it makes it easier to plot the points.
Example: The estate agent
How would you present information as a line graph? Watch the following video to find out.
Method summary
To draw a line graph you need to:
- draw the horizontal and vertical axes, and label them
- divide these axes into suitable scales – to do this, you need to look at the data and find out what the smallest and largest numbers are
- plot the points from your data, using a pencil to make small crosses
- join the points using a ruler
- give your graph a title.
Now try the following activity. Remember to check your answers once you have completed the questions.
Activity 13: Creating a line graph
Line graphs are often used in holiday brochures to show temperatures or hours of sunshine at a particular resort.
The following table shows the hours of sunshine at a holiday resort. Draw a line graph using the data from the table and then answer the questions below.
| Month | Hours of sunshine |
|---|---|
| May | 6 |
| June | 7 |
| July | 8 |
| August | 9 |
| September | 8 |
| October | 7 |
- Which month was the sunniest?
- Which month had the least sunshine?
Answer
When drawing your line graph you should:
- draw the horizontal axis, labelling it ‘Months’, and the vertical axis, labelling it ‘Hours of sunshine’
- divide these axes into suitable scales – your smallest and largest numbers are 6 and 9, so your scale could be one square for one hour
- plot the points from your data, using a pencil and make small crosses
- join the points using a ruler
- give your graph a title such as ‘Hours of sunshine at a holiday resort over a six-month period’.
The finished line graph should look something like this:
In answer to the questions:
- August is the sunniest month.
- May is the least sunniest month.
Look at the following line graph. Sometimes it makes sense to create a graph in landscape rather than portrait.
Summary
In this section you have learned about how to present data in line graphs.
OpenLearn - Everyday maths 1 (Northern Ireland) 
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