A picture graph shows how many are in each group, using one picture for each thing.
Step 1: Let's Learn
Read it, or press Listen and follow the words.
Everything lines up
All the columns start on the same line, so a taller column really does mean more.
What you can ask
How many in one group, how many in all, and how many more one group has.
The key tells you what each picture means
A picture graph uses a small symbol for each item counted. Somewhere on the graph is a key saying what one picture stands for. Read the key first — if each picture means two things, a row of four pictures means eight, not four.
Reading comparisons off the rows
The longest row is the most, and the shortest is the least. To find how many more one has than another, count the difference in pictures and multiply by whatever the key says. Graphs exist so these comparisons can be seen instead of calculated.
Half pictures
When each picture stands for two, a half picture means one. That is how a picture graph shows an odd number without changing the key. Notice how fractions have quietly turned up in a lesson about data.
Step 2: Try It Yourself
Tap and try it out.
Apples
Stars
Fish
There are 14 in all.
Fish has the most. It has 3 more than Stars.
Step 3: Watch an Example
One step at a time.
Watch Leo Read a Picture Graph
A graph shows 5 apples, 3 stars and 6 fish.
- Step 1
He counts one column at a time rather than the whole picture.
Step 4: Your Turn
Practice makes it stick.
Reading the Graph
Problem 1 of 2
A graph shows 4 apples and 7 fish. How many more fish than apples?
more
Adding It Up
Problem 2 of 2
A graph shows 5 apples, 3 stars and 6 fish. How many in all?
things
Answer From the Graph
1 of 3
6 fish and 2 stars. How many in all?
2 of 3
6 fish and 2 stars. How many more fish?
3 of 3
3 apples, 3 stars, 3 fish. How many in all?
Step 5: Quick Check
Show what you know.
Question 1 of 2
5 apples and 8 fish. How many more fish?
Question 2 of 2
On a picture graph, what does one picture stand for?
What You Learned
- A picture graph uses one picture for each thing.
- All the columns start on the same line.
- You can ask how many, how many in all, and how many more.