What does a bar graph typically represent?

A bar graph is primarily used to represent categorical data. This type of data divides observations into distinct categories or groups. Each bar in the graph corresponds to a category and the height of the bar indicates the value or frequency of that category. For instance, if you were to use a bar graph to show the number of students in different club activities at a school, each bar would represent a specific club, making it easy to compare the number of participants across categories.

While a bar graph can show numerical data by illustrating the counts or values associated with each category, its core function is to display how different groups compare to one another. The visualization allows for straightforward comparisons, enabling viewers to quickly identify trends, disparities, or distributions among the categories presented. This clarity differentiates it from other types of graphs more suited for different data types, such as continuous data, which might be better represented through line graphs, or time series data, which typically involve data points collected at specific time intervals.