Pie charts and the mean

For grown-ups: this lesson in words

Year 6 · Maths

Pie charts and the mean: I can read a pie chart as fractions of the whole and find the mean by sharing equally.

1. This is a pie chart. The whole circle stands for all 12 children in the class.

   Each slice is called a sector. Apples is the biggest sector: 6 children chose apples.

   3 chose bananas and 3 chose grapes. Equal sectors mean equal numbers.

   Picture: A pie chart called "Favourite fruit of 12 children". Apples: 6; Bananas: 3; Grapes: 3.

2. Apples: 6 of the 12 children. 6 is half of 12, so the apples sector is half of the circle.

   Bananas: 3 of the 12. 3 is a quarter of 12, so that sector is a quarter of the circle.

   Half = 50% and a quarter = 25%.

   Picture: A pie chart called "Favourite fruit of 12 children". Apples: 6; Bananas: 3; Grapes: 3.

3. Your turn: 8 children chose a favourite pet: dogs, cats or fish. Which pet did the most children choose?

   Picture: A pie chart called "Favourite pets of 8 children". Dogs: half of the circle; Cats: 3 eighths of the circle; Fish: an eighth of the circle.

   Choose one:

   • Dogs
   • Cats
   • Fish

   Answer

   The answer: Dogs

   Dogs. The dogs sector is half of the circle, the biggest sector of the three.

Words to know

pie chart:

A circle cut into slices. The whole circle stands for everything that was counted.

sector:

The proper name for one slice of a pie chart. A bigger sector means a bigger share.

mean:

A kind of average. Add all the values, then divide by how many values there are.

total:

Everything added together.