Day 7s Making Inferences from Graphs & Misleading Graphs
Show work where needed
1. What is the relationship
between bar height and
percent?
2. How many foreign
born people were in the United
States in 1970?
3. What does the 15% for 1910 mean?
4. Calculate the total population of the United States in 1950.
5. Based on the graph above, write a couple sentences about the composition of the Russian
population.
6. Approximately how many Russians are aged 25 – 29?
7. If the total population of Russia in 1990 was approximately 148 million, what percentage were
females aged 0 – 9?
(Payments to individuals includes Social Security and Medicare; net interest represents interest
payments on the national debt; all other represents non-defense discretionary spending.)
8. Could you represent this data as a pie graph? Why or why not?
9. What percent of the budget was allocated for national defense in 1977?
10. If 110 million dollars ($110,000,000) was allcoated for national defense in 1977, how much
was the federal budget?
Use the graphs to answer the questions below.
US Population in 1900 by
Age
Age 45-64
13.7%
Age > 65
4.1%
US Population in 2000 by
Age
Age < 5
6.8%
Age > 65
12.4%
Age < 5
12.1%
Age 20-44
37.8%
Age 5-19
32.3%
Age 5-19
21.8%
Age 45 64
22.0%
Age 20 44
37.0%
The total population in 1900 was approximately 76,000,000 and in 2000 it was 281,400,000.
11. About how many people were between the ages of 5 and 19 in 2000?
12. Compare the populations under the age of 5.
a. In which year was there a greater percentage of people under the age of 5?
b. In which year was there a greater number of people under the age of 5?
13. Approximately what percent of the population was over 20 in 1900?
14. Circle the letter of each statement that is correct.
a. In 2000, approximately 20 out of every 100 people were between the ages of 45 and 64.
b. There were approximately the same number of people between 20 and 44 in 1900 and
2000.
c. The percentage of people age 65 and older tripled from 1900 to 2000.
d. In 1900, there were about 3 times as many people below the age of 5 than 65 and older.
e. The number of people age 65 and older tripled from 1900 to 2000.
f. In 2000, about 1 in 20 people was between 5 and 19.
g. In 1900, about 1 in 10 people was under 5.
15. Which population is younger? Justify your answer.
Billions of People
World Population
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1800 1825 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 2075
Years
16. How are the 2 graphs above related?
17. Which graph is easier to read? Why?
18. Which graph is more accurate? Why?
The following two graphs are from Information Week, October 13, 2003:
19. Interpret the meaning of the top bar in the graph on the left.
20. Interpret the meaning of the top bar in the graph on the right.
21. Describe ways in which the graphs are confusing or misleading.
The graph to the left was published by Reuters in 2003.
22. Based on the title of the graph, what point do you think the graph is meant
to make? Be as specific as possible.
23. Describe ways in which the graph is confusing or misleading.
24. What is this graph demonstrating (summarize the graph in a
sentence or two)?
25. What happened to the cost of private colleges from 01-02
to 02-03?
26. What are some ways this graph is confusing or misleading?