Which chart type displays the mean per category on the y-axis and a categorical variable on the x-axis?

Which chart type displays the mean per category on the y-axis and a categorical variable on the x-axis?

• A. Line chart
• B. Histogram
• C. Bar chart
• D. Scatter plot

Answer: (C)

Visualizing a mean per category with categories on the x-axis and the mean on the y-axis is a classic use of a bar chart. Bar charts place each category along the horizontal axis and use the height of each bar to represent a numeric value for that category, such as the average (mean) of observations within that category. This layout makes it easy to compare the averages across categories at a glance. A line chart is for showing how a quantity changes over ordered, often time-based, x-values and connects points, which isn’t the goal when comparing means across distinct categories. A histogram displays the distribution of a single continuous variable, not category means. A scatter plot shows the relationship between two continuous variables, not a summary by category.

Visualizing a mean per category with categories on the x-axis and the mean on the y-axis is a classic use of a bar chart. Bar charts place each category along the horizontal axis and use the height of each bar to represent a numeric value for that category, such as the average (mean) of observations within that category. This layout makes it easy to compare the averages across categories at a glance. A line chart is for showing how a quantity changes over ordered, often time-based, x-values and connects points, which isn’t the goal when comparing means across distinct categories. A histogram displays the distribution of a single continuous variable, not category means. A scatter plot shows the relationship between two continuous variables, not a summary by category.