A bar chart, also known as a bar graph, is a chart with rectangular bars of lengths usually proportional to the magnitudes or frequencies of what they represent. Bar charts are used for comparing two or more values. The bars can be horizontally or vertically oriented. Sometimes a stretched graphic is used instead of a solid bar. plotting redirects here. ... In geometry, a rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. ... For other uses of this word, see Length (disambiguation). ...

Example

The example chart is based on the results of the election for the European Parliament in 2004 and in 1999. The following table lists the number of seats allocated to each party group. The results of 1999 have been multiplied by 1.16933, to compensate for the change in number of seats between those years. Elections to the European Parliament were held from June 10, 2004 to June 13, 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. ... The 1999 election was the first election for the European Parliament after the enlargement of the European Union with Austria, Finland and Sweden. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ...

A bar chart visualizing the above results of the 2004 election can look like this:
(If all the values were arranged in descending order this type of bar graph would be called a pareto chart.) shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pareto Chart A Pareto Chart is a special type of Histogram where the values being plotted are arranged in descending order. ...

This bar chart shows both the results of 2004, and those of 1999: shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ...

History

The bar chart is possibly the invention of the Scots engineer and economist William Playfair (1759-1823). A bar chart was used in his work The Commercial and Political Atlas (London, 1786). William Playfair (September 22, 1759 - February 11, 1823) a Scottish engineer and political economist, was an important inventor of statistical graphics. ...

See also

• Histogram — a special type of bar chart.
• Gantt chart
• Pie chart

Example of a histogram of 100 normally distributed random values. ... Gantt chart showing three kinds of schedule dependencies (in red) and percent complete indications. ... A pie chart is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating relative magnitudes or frequencies. ...

External links

• bar graphs in Javascript.