You would use a histogram for the following reasons:

• They are a kind of bar graph.

• They are easy to make.

• They organize data so information is easily understood.

• They show that each bar represents an interval of data for a category.

• They show that the length of the bar represents the amount of the total that falls into that category.

This is how to make a histogram:

1. Determine if you want to make the bars be horizontal or vertical.

2. There will be two axes.

   In a horizontal histogram graph, the horizontal line (the x-axis) represents an interval of data in a category and the vertical line (the y-axis) represents the scale.

   

    

   In a vertical histogram graph, the horizontal line (the x-axis) represents the vertical line (the y-axis) represents an interval of data in a category.

   

    

3. Label the axes.

4. Make sure that the axes have consistent intervals (that the intervals are all equal).

5. Put a title on your graph.