When visualizing categorical data, such as area codes and their frequencies, it's important to choose a display type that effectively represents the categories and their associated counts. Let's discuss the options given:
1. Histogram: This is useful for displaying the distribution of numerical data and helps in understanding the frequency of numerical ranges. Histograms are typically used for continuous data, not categorical data like area codes.
2. Line graph: This is best used to show trends over time or continuous data. Since we are dealing with area codes, which are distinct categories, a line graph is not suitable.
3. Relative frequency table: This represents data in terms of relative frequencies (proportions or percentages) rather than raw counts. While informative, this is more of a data tabulation method rather than a visual display.
4. Bar graph: This type of graph is excellent for displaying categorical data. Each category (area code) is represented by a bar, and the height of the bar corresponds to the frequency of that category. This makes it easy to compare frequencies across different categories visually.
Given these considerations, the best type of display for the data you have — categorical area codes and their frequencies — is a Bar graph.
