1. How to Lie with G
raphs
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Adapted from How to Lie with Statistics By Darrell Huff, Pictures By Irving Geis

2. Here is a graph...
Company Earnings
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3. Easy to Understand, but... not very impressive...... Company Earnings
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not very impressive......

4. Company Earnings
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5. That’s better.... In this “Truncated Graph”, the line
Company Earnings
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In this “Truncated Graph”, the line
climbs halfway up the graph.
But why stop there?......

6. Company Earnings
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7. Company Earnings
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8. Now THAT’S
Company Earnings
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a PROFIT!

9. Same Data
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very different graphs.

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11. It all depends...
on what you want to say...
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13. Here is a simple honest graph....
Average Worker’s Salary
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Dollars per day
Showing that American workers
earn twice as much as Rotundians

14. but it lacks EYE-APPEAL...
Average Worker’s Salary
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Dollars per day
but it lacks EYE-APPEAL...

15. How about a pretty PICTOGRAPH? Twice as many moneybags means
Average Worker’s Salary
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How about a pretty PICTOGRAPH?
Twice as many moneybags means
twice as much money earned...

16. But I want to create a stronger impression of how much better-off
Average Worker’s Salary
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But I want to create a stronger
impression of how much better-off
the American worker is...

17. So I draw the Rotundian’s moneybag...
Average Worker’s Salary
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18. and then I draw the American worker’s moneybag TWICE as TALL
Average Worker’s Salary
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and then I draw the American
worker’s moneybag TWICE as TALL

19. ..so the American’s salary
Average Worker’s Salary
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appears to dwarf the Rotundian’s!
(...that’s not being dishonest, is it?)

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21. Here is a simple graph showing changes in a frog population
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Number of Frogs

22. Here is the same data presented in a pictograph...
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23. ...and another pictograph... How might this graph create an incorrect
impression?
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25. How NOT to Lie with G
raphs
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26. DON’T Use Truncated Graphs
(*Make sure your graph starts at zero- Y-axis)
DON’T Use Stretched or Scrunched Graphs
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DON’T Use Pictographs
(w/ objects that get wider and taller)
OR...just don’t get caught!