Data Dive · Rung 1 · What's There · 1.2

A ranking of places, a ranking of sizes

The same shape, handed two things that could not be more different.

Runs in 20 minutes · everything you need is on this page · no network, no accounts, nothing for the students to open

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First

311 requests by council district

311 requests by Los Angeles council district, 2022fifteen districts - data.lacity.orgrequests loggedcouncil districtrequests logged54,190108,379088,058189,449274,604381,844465,952587,748685,155789,8908108,379991,6721069,7911188,06212107,79913107,3651491,67615

Los Angeles, 2022, all fifteen districts

65,952
the quietest district
108,379
the busiest
1.6x
the whole spread

Fifteen bars. Roughly the same height.

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Then

Earthquakes by magnitude band

Southern California earthquakes by magnitude, 20242,508 events, M1.5 and above - USGSearthquakes recordedmagnitude bandearthquakes recorded8421,68401,684M1.0-1.9721M2.0-2.988M3.0-3.914M4.0-4.91M5.0-5.9

Southern California, 2024, M1.5 and above

1,684
M1 band
1
M5 band
1,684x
the spread
AskSame chart type, drawn the same way. One spread is 1.6x and one is 1,684x. Does the bar chart know the difference?
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Ours, not the Earth's

One bar is short because of something we did

The M1 bar is short because the query starts at M1.5 — half that band is missing. Somebody's filter is visible in the chart.

That somebody is us. Tell them.

The three questions
  1. What kind of chart is this, and what is one thing it cannot show you?
  2. In each chart, how many times bigger is the first bar than the last?
  3. Districts are places with people in them. Magnitude bands are sizes. Should the chart care?
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After the dive

The shapes on this page, in the library’s own words

the bar

Bar length is the value, so it only means anything measured from zero. Start the axis anywhere else and the lengths stop matching the numbers.

What it leaves outOrder is a choice. Sorted by size it is a ranking; sorted by name it is a lookup; and the same bars say different things in each.

library · ladder · dives · the pool · this dive’s worksheet

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