Scientists count and record what they find. If you count the birds that visit a feeder, you can make a tally: one line for each bird. Then you can show the totals in a bar chart.
In a bar chart, each bar shows one group, and the taller the bar, the more there are. To read it, look at the top of the bar and across to the numbers at the side. Bar charts help us spot the most and the fewest quickly and answer questions like 'How many more?'
Worked example
A chart shows 7 robins and 3 sparrows. How many more robins are there?
- Read each bar: robins 7, sparrows 3.
- How many more means take away.
Answer:7 − 3 = 4 more robins.
Key words
- tally
- a line for each thing counted
- bar chart
- a chart that uses bars to show amounts
- most
- the biggest amount
- fewest
- the smallest amount
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