Practice vocabulary for choosing and discussing chart types: bar vs. line vs. scatter, histogram vs. bar chart, heat maps, sankey diagrams, and when each is appropriate.
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You want to show revenue trends over 12 months. Which chart type is most appropriate?
A line chart is best for showing trends over continuous time. The connected line makes the trend direction immediately visible. You'd say: 'A line chart here better represents the continuous nature of this time-series data than a bar chart would.'
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What is the key difference between a histogram and a bar chart?
Bar charts compare discrete categories — each bar is a separate thing. Histograms show the distribution of a continuous variable — how many values fall in each range (bin). The absence of gaps between histogram bars signals continuity. Mixing them up is a common data viz mistake.
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When would a scatter plot be more appropriate than a bar chart?
Scatter plots show the relationship between two continuous variables — each point represents one observation with (x, y) coordinates. You'd say: 'A scatter plot is more appropriate here because we want to see if there's a correlation between hours of practice and test score.'
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What does a heat map visualization best communicate?
Heat maps use color to show magnitude across two dimensions simultaneously. Common uses: website click density, correlation matrices, or activity by hour/day. You'd say: 'A heat map lets us see at a glance which hour-day combinations have the highest support ticket volume.'
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What type of data is a Sankey diagram best suited for?
A Sankey diagram shows flows between stages where the width of each flow represents its magnitude. It's ideal for user journey funnels, energy/budget allocation, or migration flows. You'd say: 'A Sankey diagram here shows not just where users drop off, but how much volume moves through each path.'