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  • About 85 min
  • 12 steps · 2 quizzes

How Charts Lie — Reading Data Without Being Fooled

Charts can use true numbers and still mislead with the picture. Students play with charts that fool the eye in the most common ways — a cut-off axis…

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12 steps · 2 quizzes · about 85 minutes · open any step

  1. Welcome: true numbers, misleading picturesStart hereA chart can use true numbers and still tell a false story. Watch three tricks turn two calm years of sales into a rocket — without changing a single number.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  2. Same numbers, two storiesA chart is an argument made with a picture. The numbers can be true while the picture misleads. Try it: read both headlines, then pick an answer.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  3. The truncated axisIn a bar chart, the length of the bar is the message. Cut off the bottom of the axis and you cut off most of every bar, so small gaps look huge. Try it: drag the slider, then flip Start at 0.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  4. Stretch and squashThe same line can look like a rocket or a flat road just by changing the chart's shape. Try it: drag the round handle on the corner, or use the buttons. Watch the slope — the data never changes.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  5. The cherry-picked windowWhere a chart starts and stops can flip the story. Pick a dip and growth looks like decline; pick a boom and a slump looks like success. Try it: drag the handles under the chart, or press the buttons. Watch the dashed trend line.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  6. Totals vs. per personBig places have more of everything — more people, more bikes, more thefts. To compare places of different sizes, divide by size: per person, or per 1,000 people. Try it: switch between the two views and watch the ranking.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  7. Check: axes, windows and ratesQuiz · 4 questions
  8. Together isn't becauseTwo things that rise and fall together are correlated. That doesn't mean one causes the other — a hidden third factor can drive both. Try it: look at the claim, then switch to What's really going on.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  9. Pictures that grow two waysWhen a picture stands for a number, doubling its height usually doubles its width too — so the picture gets 4× bigger, not 2×. Our eyes judge area. Try it: compare the three ways of drawing "2 million".InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  10. 3D makes the front biggerTilting a pie into 3D squashes the back, stretches the front and adds a thick wall to the front slices. Their share of the picture grows; their share of the data doesn't. Try it: answer the question first, then compare the three views.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min

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    · Added a designed title cover and ensured the first step introduces the lesson.

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