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Broken Line Graphs - Cycle 2
| Mathematics
What Is a Broken Line Graph?
A broken line graph presents data from a study that changes over time (months, days, hours, etc.) using a broken line.
Example:
What Are the Parts of a Broken Line Graph?
The title of a broken line graph always presents the subject of the study.
The title indicates that this broken line graph represents the number of book club participants from January to April.
A broken line graph has 2 axes: the vertical axis and the horizontal axis. Each axis is labelled to show what it represents.
The horizontal axis represents units of time. It shows when and how often the data was collected.
The vertical axis represents the number of data values collected.
In this graph, the horizontal axis shows the time in months. The data was collected once a month from January and April.
The vertical axis shows the number of book club participants.
The scale on each of the axes must have equal intervals (equal jumps).
The intervals between the numbers on the vertical axis of this broken line graph are + 2 each time. The horizontal axis increases one month at a time ( +1 ).
In a broken line graph, the data values (results) are represented by points connected by segments. The number associated with the position of each point indicates the amount of data for each unit of time.
You can see the position of the point for Monday corresponds to 3 on the vertical axis. This lets you know that William ate 3 fruits on Monday.
The position of the point for Sunday corresponds to 2 on the vertical axis. This means that William ate 2 fruits on Sunday.
How to Interpret a Broken Line Graph
To interpret a broken line graph, you must analyze all the parts of the graph while keeping the question of the study in mind.
What was the warmest day this week?
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The warmest day was Thursday.
What was the temperature on Wednesday?
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On Wednesday, the temperature was 5 degrees Celsius.