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Pie charts

Pie charts show percentages as a circle, divided into segments.

This pie chart shows how students travel to school. Each piece of data is shown as a proportion of 360, because there are 360 degrees in a circle. If 25 out of 100 students travel to school by car, the angle is worked out using the calculation: (25 ÷ 100) × 360 = 90 degrees.

41% Bus, 25% Car, 21% Walk, 11% Bicycle, 2% Taxi.

When interpreting a pie chart, you should include:

  • the proportion or percentage of one segment compared to another
  • the highest and lowest shown by the biggest and smallest segment
  • the differences indicated by the size of each segment

The above pie chart shows two out of five methods of transport make up more than half (66%) of the pie chart – car and bus. The most common mode of transport is bus at 41% and the least common method shown by the smallest segment is taxi at 2%. Cycling is the second least common mode of transport and accounts for 11%, and walking accounts for 21%.