1.32 Scientific Graphing
TABLE1.6: Average Number of Tornadoes per Year (1950–2007) in U.S. Cities with the Greatest
Number of Tornadoes
Rank City Average Number of Tornadoes(per
1000 Square Miles)
1 Clearwater, FL 7.4
2 Oklahoma City, OK 2.2
3 Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL 2.1
4 Houston, TX 2.1
5 Tulsa, OK 2.1
6 New Orleans, LA 2.0
7 Melbourne, FL 1.9
8 Indianapolis, IN 1.7
9 Fort Worth, TX 1.7
10 Lubbock, TX 1.6Bar graphs are especially useful for comparing values for different things, such as the average numbers of tornadoes
for different cities. Therefore, a bar graph is a good choice for displaying the data in theTable1.6. The bar graph
below shows one way that these data could be presented.Q:What do the two axes of this bar graph represent?
A:The x-axis represents cities, and the y-axis represents average numbers of tornadoes.
Q:Could you switch what the axes represent? If so, how would the bar graph look?
A:Yes; the x-axis could represent average numbers of tornadoes, and the y-axis could represent cities. The bars of
the graph would be horizontal instead of vertical.