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Which manipulation of a histogram wrongly inflates the apparent importance of one category?
ALabelling the vertical axis with relative frequency
BVarying the width of the class intervals
COrdering the classes from largest to smallest
DDrawing the boxes so that they touch each other
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Varying the width of the class intervals
1. A histogram invites the reader to compare the areas of its boxes.
2. Widening one class interval enlarges its area even when its frequency has not risen.
3. The wider category then appears to carry a higher probability of occurrence than it really does.
4. Comparison with the other categories becomes impossible once the widths differ.
5. Labelling the vertical axis with relative frequency leaves the shape of the graph unchanged, so it misleads nobody.
6. Contiguous boxes are a defining feature of a histogram rather than a distortion of it.
_Source: OpenStax Introductory Business Statistics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 "Descriptive Statistics", section 2.1 Display Data_
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