Question

America's Melting Pot. The U.S. Census Bureau publishes data on the population of the United States by race and Hispanic origin in American Community Survey. From that document, we constructed the following bar chart. Note that people who are Hispanic may be of any race, and people in each race group may be either Hispanic or not Hispanic.

a. Explain why a break is shown in the first bar.

b. Why was the graph constructed with a broken bar?

c. Is this graph potentially misleading? Explain your answer.

Short answer

(a) The bar is truncated.

(b) Because the bar for White people was substantially larger than the bar for other races, the graph was produced with broken bars.

(c) Yes, the graph is potentially misleading.

Step-by-step solution

Part (a) Step 1: Given information

The given information is

Part (a) Step 2: Explanation

The $y$axis of a truncated graph does not begin at $0$. These graphs might provide the impression of significant change when there is actually very little. While shortened graphs can be useful for overdrawing differences or saving space, they are frequently avoided.

The bar is truncated.

The break is shown in the first bar because the first bar has not been completely drawn.

In other words, the bar was truncated the break represents the truncation.

Part (b) Step 1: Given information

The given data is

Part (b) Step 2: Explanation

On a chart, an axis break is a break in the continuity of numbers on either the $y$or $x$axis. It's also known as a graph break or a scale break, and it appears as a wavy line or diagonal line on the axis and on the bars displayed on that axis on the chart.

Because the bar for White people was substantially larger than the bar for other races, the graph was produced with broken bars.

Part (c) Step 1: Given information

The given information

Part (c) Step 2: Explanation

The graph is potentially misleading because the first bar appears to be double or triple the size of the other bars., while in actuality the difference is much larger.