How Many Types of Bar Graphs

Introduction

The count of different types of Bar graphs is Six. As such Bar graphs are common for presentation purposes. Well, do you know the commonly used application or software for preparing bar graphs or presentations? Have you ever noticed any Bar Graph in any newspaper or electronic media?

You must be aware of how to draw a graph on graph paper using two axes namely X-axis and Y-axis. Likewise, axes of references are also there in Bar graphs. There are several references on the basis of which Bar graphs can be categorized. Let's examine it further by diving in.

What is a Bar Graph?

When you present any data in a methodical way using the rectangular bars aligning horizontally or vertically, having heights proportional to your represented values, the resulting graph is what you call a Bar Graph.

Questions based on bar graphs may be seen in numerical analysis sections of any competitive examination.

The Components of a Bar Graph

The following are some of the important components that constitute a bar graph.

• Raw data that is to be represented.

• The vertical axis of reference.

• The horizontal axis of reference

• The Bars reflect the data statistically with respect to the values that are assigned along the axes of references.

• The graph paper or the software/application for its preparation.

The Different Types of Bar Graphs

As per the complexity of data involved in Bar Graphs, the following are the broad classification.

• A simple form of a Bar Chart -The basic bar chart.

• Compound or Multiple Bar Chart -The multiple bar charts are combined together

• Proportional or Component Bar Chart – The proportional magnitude is reflected.

The most general way to categorize the Bar graphs is the following.

• Horizontal Bar Chart – The Bars are aligned horizontally along the horizontal axis to represent the values numerically of the data variables against the data categories shown on the vertical axis.

• Vertical Bar Chart – The Bars are aligned vertically along the vertical axis to represent the values numerically of the data variables against the data categories shown on the horizontal axis.

Again each of the horizontal Bar charts and the Vertical Bar Chart is of three types. Thus there are in total six types of Bar Charts which are as follows.

• Horizontal Grouped Bar Chart

• Horizontal Stacked Bar Chart

• Segmented Horizontal Bar Chart

• Vertical Grouped Bar Chart

• Vertical Stacked Bar Chart

• Segmented Vertical Bar Chart

The Different Uses of Bar Graphs

Following are some of the benefits of plotting the Bar Graphs.

• The numerical values are visualized as rectangular bars, so their heights easily help in identifying the different parameters, like the highest one, the lowest one, etc.

• It is a very smart statistical tool.

• It highlights the frequency of each category of data fed into the chart.

• Visualization is helpful for data comparison and performance evaluation from the financial or commercial point of view.

• Helps in the prediction of the market scenario of any product considered.

• It assists in tracking the data changes.

• It gives an idea about the growth patterns of any organization.

Conclusion

• The spacing between the rectangular bars is kept equal in any Bar Chart.

• The rectangular bars are equally wide in any Bar Chart.

• The rectangular bars are drawn in any Bar Chart on the basis of a common base.

• Bar Charts deals with the quantitative approach of data comparison.

• The most common practice of constructing a Bar Chart is to use the Excel Sheet of the Microsoft Office Package.