Statistics · Data representation
Chapter 1 · 3
The idea
Misleading graphs and charts
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Statistics · Data representation
Misleading graphs and charts
How a chart with correct numbers can still tell a false story, and how to say exactly what is wrong with it: a vertical axis that does not start at zero, uneven scales, pictures and 3D bars that grow two ways, missing labels and keys, overlapping classes, the wrong chart for the data, and totals compared across groups of different sizes. How to work out how much a chart exaggerates, and what a fair version looks like.
Why it works
A true chart that tells a false story
Pip's Smoothies sold thousand cups in 2022 and thousand in 2025. Its advert shows this bar chart. Every number on it is correct, yet the picture says sales have shot up.Look at the vertical axis. It starts at , not . Your eye judges a bar by its height, so a chart is only fair when equal distances on the page stand for equal amounts, measured from zero. This chart breaks that rule, so it misleads.Keep reading — free
The rest of the explanation, plus 4 worked examples you step through move by move.
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