Idiot\'s Guides Basic Math and Pre-Algebra

Chapter 19: Graphs 265

This graph shows the best times in speed skating for athletes from different countries in the 2002
Winter Olympics. The horizontal axis shows the names of the countries. The vertical scale shows
times in seconds. It’s easy to see that the athletes from Belarus were significantly slower than
those of the other countries represented. It’s a little harder to find the fastest country, because
several countries have times just over 69 seconds.

CHECK POINT

1. Draw a bar graph to represent the data below.
   Average Gasoline Usage in Hundreds of Gallons
   per Month for New England States
   State CT ME MA NH RI
   Gasoline Usage 4.3 5.4 4.4 5.4 4.1


2. Which state had the lowest average gasoline usage? Why might residents of that
   state use less gasoline?
   The bar graph below summarizes the sales of various lunches offered in a school
   cafeteria.


3. Based upon this information, tacos outsell pasta by approximately how many
   lunches?


4. Approximately how many chicken lunches are sold per year?


5. Approximately how many burgers are sold per year?

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Burgers Chicken Tacos Pizza Pasta

Cafeteria Lunches

Lunches Sold Per Year (100s)