This document contains a worksheet about misleading graphs. It includes graphs that use different scales, making the data appear different than it is. Students are asked questions to identify how the graphs are misleading and how they could be improved. Specifically, one graph shows medal counts from the 2002 Winter Olympics in a way that makes it seem Norway won half as many as the US, when in fact the US won more. The scales start above zero and are unevenly spaced.

1. Name __________________________________ Date __________________
Mrs. Labuski / Mrs. Rooney Period ________ Lesson 6-8 Misleading Graphs
Why are these line graphs misleading?
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What might people believe from these misleading graphs?
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2. The graph shows the total number of medals won by four countries at the 2002
Winter Olympics.
1. According to the height of each bar, which country appears to have won
approximately half the number of medals won by the United States?
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2. Look at the numbers on the left to estimate the number of medals won by each
country.
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3. Use the estimates in Exercise 2 to determine whether the answer to Exercise 1 is
accurate.
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Think and Discuss
4. Discuss how the graph is misleading.
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5. Explain how you could modify the graph to represent the data more accurately.
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3. Name __________________________________ Date __________________
Mrs. Labuski / Mrs. Rooney Period ________ Lesson 6-8 Misleading Graphs
Why are these line graphs misleading?
If you look at the scale for each graph, you will notice that the April graph goes
from 54° to 66° and the May graph goes from 68° to 80°.
What might people believe from these misleading graphs?
People might believe that the temperatures in May were about the same as the
temperatures in April. In reality, the temperatures in April were about 15 degrees
lower.

4. The graph shows the total number of medals won by four countries at the 2002
Winter Olympics.
1. According to the height of each bar, which country appears to have won
approximately half the number of medals won by the United States?
_Norway___________________________________________________________
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2. Look at the numbers on the left to estimate the number of medals won by each
country.
Germany — 35, USA — 34, Norway — 24, Canada — 17
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3. Use the estimates in Exercise 2 to determine whether the answer to Exercise 1 is
accurate.
No, the answer to Exercise 1 is not accurate
Think and Discuss
4. Discuss how the graph is misleading.
The vertical axis starts at 10, rather than zero.
The intervals are not even: 0- 10, and then by 5’s
5. Explain how you could modify the graph to represent the data more accurately.
Start the vertical axis at zero
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