A histogram is a data handling tool used in statistics to graphically represent the grouped frequency distribution with continuous class limits by using the height of joined rectangular bars indicating corresponding frequencies in the class intervals. Let’s review the basic concept of a histogram, including its meaning, construction, and types.

What is Histogram?

The histogram represents a grouped frequency distribution with continuous classes. It is a diagram in which a set of rectangular bars are drawn with bases along with the intervals between the class boundaries. The height of the rectangular bar is equal to the corresponding frequencies of similar as well as for different classes, and all plotted rectangular bars are adjacent to each other. 

How to draw a Histogram?

Following given are the steps to draw a histogram:

Step 1: The first thing that is to be done while drawing the histogram is to decide the title of the graph based on the category of the given data set. 

Step 2: The second step is to draw two axes- x-axis and y-axis and then mark the class intervals on the horizontal axis (x-axis) and frequencies on the vertical axis (y-axis). 

Step 3: Now decide the range of the scale based on the values given in the data set. It is important to note that the scale range should match on both axes.

Step 4: Now is the time to draw the rectangular bars on the horizontal axis (x-axis) with bases as class intervals and heights equal to the corresponding frequencies and you can check Beacon construction.

Keep the below-given points in mind while constructing a histogram:

• The determined title should be short and meaningful representing the category of a given set of data.
• If class intervals are inclusive, convert them to exclusive intervals.
• The length of each rectangular bar should be equal to the corresponding class frequencies in case the intervals are equal.
• Remember to draw the rectangular bars on each class interval as class limits are marked on the x-axis and frequencies are marked on the y-axis.
• And the area of each rectangular bar is equal to the corresponding class frequencies in case the intervals are unequal.

What are the types of Histograms?

The histogram is categorized into different types based on the frequency distribution of the given data such as normal distribution, bimodal distribution, multimodal distribution, skewed distribution, edge peak distribution, and so on. Following are different types of the histogram:

• Normal Histogram: A histogram having normal distribution is also known as a bell-shaped histogram. The histogram just has a single peak and therefore, is called a bell-shaped histogram.

• Uniform Histogram: A height of the plotted rectangular bars on the graph is more or less the same in the uniform histogram. It might involve distribution having several peaks. 

• Bimodal Histogram: A histogram having two peaks is called a bimodal histogram. Bimodality is the outcome of combining two types of observations in a single set of data.

• Symmetric Histogram: After drawing a vertical line in the middle of a histogram if both the divided parts are identical in shape and size then the histogram is said to be symmetric.

• Skewed Histogram: A skewed histogram is also known as an asymmetric histogram. After dividing the histogram into two identical halves if both the parts are not similar to each other in shape and size then the graph is called a skewed histogram. There are two types of skewed histograms- right-skewed histograms and left-skewed histograms.

Bottom Line:

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