What Is Pie Chart

Pie Chart 

A pie chart is a graphical illustration technique that displays statistics in a circular-shaped graph. It is a composite static chart that works first-rate with few variables. Pie charts are often used to represent pattern data—with statistics points belonging to a aggregate of one of a kind categories. Each of these classes is represented as a “slice of the pie.” The dimension of each slice is directly proportional to the wide variety of facts points that belong to a specific category.Pie Chart ExampleFor example, take a pie chart representing the income a retail shop makes in a month. The slices represent the income of toys, home decor, furniture, and electronics.The under pie chart represents sales data, the place forty three percent of sales had been from furniture, 28 percentage from electronics, 15 percent from toys, and 14 percent from domestic decor. These figures add up to 100 percent, as need to continually be the case with pie graphs.Sample Pie ChartPie charts were invented with the aid of William Playfair in 1801. The first pie charts seemed in his book Commercial and Political Atlas and Statistical Breviary. Playfair, a Scottish engineer, is considered the founder of graphical strategies in statistics. When Should Pie Charts be Used? A pie chart might also no longer be appropriate for each and every type of data. The beneath pie chart represents the proportion of income made by using a number departments of a wholesale store. Pie Chart Business ExampleDistinct Parts, When the information contains one of a kind parts, a pie chart is fine suited to signify it. The intention of the use of a pie chart is to examine the contribution of each part to the whole data. pie chart is suitable when facts visualization doesn’t need to signify time. In the above example, the income data representation doesn’t indicate when these sales had been made. Pie charts can't symbolize the trade in records over time. Few Components A pie chart works satisfactory if the pattern data only has a few components. In the above example, the income data from the four departments are represented. As the range of classes increases, so does the variety of slices. It may be challenging to interpret a pie chart with many small slices.Easy Visualization Pie charts are the high-quality to visualize how lots each class contributes to the pattern data. In the above example, besides even reading the numbers, it is easy to visualize that the furniture branch contributes most to the organization’s sales. A pie chart represents the contribution of each part of the statistics to a whole. The arc dimension of each slice is directly proportional to the contribution of that part. Therefore, it’s fantastic to order the slices according to their contribution to the whole. A frequent practice is to area the biggest slice on the top-right aspect of the chart.The chart on the left facet is now not ordered according to the slice measurement in the below example. The chart on the proper side is ordered. It is convenient to see that the chart on the right is easy to understand, whilst the unordered chart on the left looks a little cumbersome. Multiple Pie ChartsMerge the Smaller Categories, A pie chart is nice ideal for statistics that comprises solely a few categories. When the wide variety of classes increases, the measurement of the slices will become smaller. It’s first-rate practice to limit the variety of slices to round five. When there are extra than 5 slices, it is great to mix smaller categories. In the beneath example, the chart on the left side has 9 categories. Combining the smallest three numbers into a single class offers a higher representation. Pie Chart Categories Avoid Unnecessary Effects adding visible effects—such as a 3-dimensional effect—might distort a pie chart. Sometimes, these results are useless and make the interpretation of the pie chart difficult. It is a high-quality practice to add visible consequences to pie charts solely when it’s necessary. Types of Pie ChartsThe extra area in the middle of the chart can be used for including extra labels to the chart. Both the pie chart and the donut plot have nearly the identical readability. Donut Chart3D Pie Chart As we saw in the previously section, a 3D pie chart can also have less readability than a 2D pie chart. The more dimension does no longer add any new statistics or restrict the ease of interpretation.3D Pie Chart ExampleExploded Pie Chart

In this variation, one or greater slices of the pie chart are pulled apart from the center to supply emphasis. While it improves the aesthetics of the chart, the exploded pie chart can also have an effect on the readability. It is crucial to use the exploded pie chart solely if it’s necessary. When Not to Use Pie Charts?A pie chart is useful to symbolize facts that is a part of a whole. As you can see in the above examples, the classes such as furniture, electronics, toys, and groceries are components of wholesale statistics and add up to one hundred percent. A pie chart does no longer make feel if it represents disjointed information and isn’t phase of a complete information set.Don’t Use Pie Charts for Data Comparison, It is now not a proper thinking to compare two pie charts for appreciation the exchange in facts over time. It is not effortless to compare two pie charts slice via slice, and it’s frequently tough to derive insights from such a comparison. While the pie chart offers a right thinking of how one-of-a-kind categories in the pattern data contribute to a whole, it is no longer an awesome way to evaluate the slices. Comparing the dimension of the slices may also now not provide a desirable feel of the difference between them. It would possibly work if one slice is an awful lot greater than the other, however the comparison primarily based on slice-size can also now not work for numbers that are too shut to one another.