Histogram
Histogram
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Histograms are used to plot density of data, and often for density estimation: estimating the probability density function of the underlying variable. The total area of a histogram used for probability density is always normalized to 1. If the length of the intervals on the x-axis are all 1, then a histogram is identical to a relative frequency plot.
An alternative to the histogram is kernel density estimation, which uses a kernel to smooth samples. This will construct a smooth probability density function, which will in general more accurately reflect the underlying variable.
The histogram is one of the seven basic tools of quality control.
The etymology of the word histogram is uncertain. Sometimes it is said to be derived from the Greek histos 'anything set upright' (as the masts of a ship, the bar of a loom, or the vertical bars of a histogram); and gramma 'drawing, record, writing'. It is also said that Karl Pearson, who introduced the term in 1895, derived the name from "historical diagram".
As an example we consider data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau on time to travel to work (2000 census, , Table 2). The census found that there were 124 million people who work outside of their homes. An interesting feature of this graph is that the number recorded for "at least 15 but less than 20 minutes" is higher than for the bands on either side. This is likely to have arisen from people rounding their reported journey time.[original research?] This rounding is a common phenomenon when collecting data from people.
This histogram shows the number of cases per unit interval so that the height of each bar is equal to the proportion of total people in the survey who fall into that category. The area under the curve represents the total number of cases (124 million). This type of histogram shows absolute numbers.
This histogram differs from the first only in the vertical scale. The height of each bar is the decimal percentage of the total that each category represents, and the total area of all the bars is equal to 1, the decimal equivalent of 100%. The curve displayed is a simple density estimate. This version shows proportions, and is also known as a unit area histogram.
In other words, a histogram represents a frequency distribution by means of rectangles whose widths represent class intervals and whose areas are proportional to the corresponding frequencies. The intervals are placed together in order to show that the data represented by the histogram, while exclusive, is also continuous. (E.g., in a histogram it is possible to have two connecting intervals of 10.5-20.5 and 20.5-33.5, but not two connecting intervals of 10.5-20.5 and 22.5-32.5. Empty intervals are represented as empty and not skipped.)
The SOCR resource pages contain a number of hands-on interactive activities demonstrating the concept of a histogram, histogram construction and manipulation using Java applets and charts.
An alternative to the histogram is kernel density estimation, which uses a kernel to smooth samples. This will construct a smooth probability density function, which will in general more accurately reflect the underlying variable.
The histogram is one of the seven basic tools of quality control.
The etymology of the word histogram is uncertain. Sometimes it is said to be derived from the Greek histos 'anything set upright' (as the masts of a ship, the bar of a loom, or the vertical bars of a histogram); and gramma 'drawing, record, writing'. It is also said that Karl Pearson, who introduced the term in 1895, derived the name from "historical diagram".
As an example we consider data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau on time to travel to work (2000 census, , Table 2). The census found that there were 124 million people who work outside of their homes. An interesting feature of this graph is that the number recorded for "at least 15 but less than 20 minutes" is higher than for the bands on either side. This is likely to have arisen from people rounding their reported journey time.[original research?] This rounding is a common phenomenon when collecting data from people.
This histogram shows the number of cases per unit interval so that the height of each bar is equal to the proportion of total people in the survey who fall into that category. The area under the curve represents the total number of cases (124 million). This type of histogram shows absolute numbers.
This histogram differs from the first only in the vertical scale. The height of each bar is the decimal percentage of the total that each category represents, and the total area of all the bars is equal to 1, the decimal equivalent of 100%. The curve displayed is a simple density estimate. This version shows proportions, and is also known as a unit area histogram.
In other words, a histogram represents a frequency distribution by means of rectangles whose widths represent class intervals and whose areas are proportional to the corresponding frequencies. The intervals are placed together in order to show that the data represented by the histogram, while exclusive, is also continuous. (E.g., in a histogram it is possible to have two connecting intervals of 10.5-20.5 and 20.5-33.5, but not two connecting intervals of 10.5-20.5 and 22.5-32.5. Empty intervals are represented as empty and not skipped.)
The SOCR resource pages contain a number of hands-on interactive activities demonstrating the concept of a histogram, histogram construction and manipulation using Java applets and charts.
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