Ja'ron collected data about the number of students participating in different types of after-school programs. The chart displays his findings.

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Program Type & Students Participating \\
\hline
Sports & 23 \\
\hline
Art & 25 \\
\hline
Academic & 21 \\
\hline
Religious & 18 \\
\hline
Family & 32 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

Which type of graph would best display the data?

A. Bar graph
B. Line graph
C. Line plot
D. Stem-and-leaf plot



Answer :

To determine the best type of graph to display Ja'ron's data about student participation in different after-school programs, follow these steps:

1. Identify the Nature of Data: The data collected is categorical, where each category represents a type of after-school program (sports, art, academic, religious, and family) and the corresponding number of students participating in each.

- Sports: 23 students
- Art: 25 students
- Academic: 21 students
- Religious: 18 students
- Family: 32 students

2. Select Graph Types for Categorical Data:
- Bar Graph: Ideal for comparing different categories. It clearly shows the quantities for each category using bars of varying lengths.
- Line Graph: Best for displaying trends over time. It connects data points with lines, which is not suitable here as there's no time component.
- Line Plot: Also known as a dot plot, is used to display frequency of individual data points, making it less suitable for categorical comparisons.
- Stem and Leaf Plot: Represents numerical data by splitting each data value into a "stem" and a "leaf." It’s typically used for small datasets and for organizing data to see its shape, which isn’t necessary in this context.

3. Determine the Best Graph Type: Given that the data is categorical and we want to compare the number of students in each program, a bar graph is the most appropriate choice. It allows for clear and effective comparison between each category of after-school program.

Thus, the type of graph that best displays Ja'ron's data is:

Bar Graph