Telling the Truth with Graphs, Even When It Is Not the Answer You Wanted

Here is where this shows up in real life. People do sometimes stretch graphs to persuade. Knowing the honest rules helps you spot it when they do. This is worth learning because honesty in small records is the same habit as honesty in big ones.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Ask yourself where else the same idea might be hiding, then go and look.

Here is something worth knowing today. Sometimes your graph shows something you did not hope for. Perhaps your favorite fruit got the fewest votes. The honest thing is to draw the bar exactly as tall as the count, not one square taller.

A graph that stretches the truth is a lie drawn neatly. God cares about honesty in small records as much as in big speeches, because the habit is the same either way.

Watch out for the temptation to leave out a category you dislike. A graph missing a bar tells a lie by silence. Show all the categories you collected, including the ones that did not go your way. Practice this a few times and it will start to feel easy.