5 chart types, their purposes, and use cases

 

Chart Type	Purpose	Best Use Cases	Example	Key Features
Bar Chart	Compare categories or groups	Ranking items, comparing sales by region	Monthly revenue for Product A vs. Product B	Vertical/horizontal bars; lengths show values; highlights differences.
Line Chart	Track trends over time	Stock prices, temperature changes, growth	Quarterly profit over 5 years	Points connected by lines; emphasizes trends, seasonality, or anomalies.
Pie Chart	Show proportions of a whole	Market share, budget allocation, demographics	Percentage of social media users by platform	Circular slices; total = 100%; avoid >5–6 categories.
Histogram	Display data distribution	Age groups, income ranges, exam scores	Frequency of customer ages in a store	Bars represent value ranges (bins); reveals spread, outliers, central tendency.
Scatter Plot	Explore relationships between variables	Correlation studies (e.g., height vs. weight)	Hours studied vs. exam scores	Dots for data points; identifies clusters, trends, or correlations.