Topics
Statistics
topic badge
United KingdomUnited Kingdom
Primary

Create and interpret dot plots

Lesson
Practice
Lesson

Reading dot plots helps us see how things compare. We might, for example, want to see who barracks for which team in the footy competition. The team with the most dots is more popular, and the team with the least number of dots is the least popular.   We can also make a dot plot, but make sure you line your dots up.  The video shows you just what can go wrong if they are a little wonky!

The table of frequency distribution helps us transfer data from a dot plot, to a table.

 

Remember!
  • a dot plot only has 1 axis
  • dots need to be lined up and spaced evenly
  • a table of frequency distribution is used to record our data in a table

 

 

Worked Examples

Question 1

A teacher made the following dot plot for the number of boys and girls in the class.

  1. How many girls are there in the class?

  2. How many more girls are there compared to boys?

  3. How many students are there in the class altogether?

Question 2

Here is a dot plot of the number of goals scored in each of Bob’s soccer games.

  1. How many times were five goals scored?

  2. Which number of goals were scored equally and most often?

    $1$1

    A

    $0$0

    B

    $4$4

    C

    $3$3

    D

    $2$2

    E

    $5$5

    F

  3. How many games were played in total?

Question 3

The goals scored by a football team in their matches are represented in the following dot plot.

  1. Complete the following frequency distribution table.

    Goals scored Frequency
    $0$0 $\editable{}$
    $1$1 $\editable{}$
    $2$2 $\editable{}$
    $3$3 $\editable{}$
    $4$4 $\editable{}$
    $5$5 $\editable{}$

What is Mathspace

About Mathspace