Visual Displays of Data

Vocabulary terms and definitions from the lecture on visual displays of data in the media, covering various graph types and interpretation methods.

Multiple Bar Graph

A simple extension of a regular bar graph that has two or more sets of bars to allow comparison between two or more data sets.

Gender Wage Gap

A phenomenon in which women’s earnings are about $70\%$ to $80\%$ of men’s earnings across all educational categories.

Multiple Line Chart

A graphic that follows the same basic idea as a multiple bar chart but shows the related data sets with lines rather than bars.

Stack Plot

A display that shows two or more related data sets simultaneously by placing different data sets in a vertical stack.

Wedge

The color-coded region for an individual data set in a stack plot; its thickness at a particular time represents its value.

Terawatt-hours ($TWh$)

A common unit of energy usage that means trillions of watt-hours.

Geographical Data

Data that varies by geographical region, often displayed using color-coded maps to represent values by country or area.

Contour Map

A map that uses curvy lines known as contours to connect locations with the same value, such as temperature.

Contours

Curvy lines on a map that connect locations with the same value; more closely spaced lines indicate that the value is varying more rapidly with distance.

Infographics

Poster-like displays that attempt to make visual summaries of a variety of related data.

Computer Modeling

The use of modern computers to visualize complex data, such as interactive global maps displaying real-time surface winds and temperatures.