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Data Analytics: Statistics & Data Visualization

Misleading Charts

Truncated axes, dual axes, cherry-picked ranges — how to spot them, and how not to make them.

Level
Beginner
Lessons
2
Total time
26 min
Simulations
2
Included in Data Analytics: Statistics & Data Visualization · $9
Tools you'll use
  • Python
  • pandas
  • NumPy
Skills
  • Chart literacy
  • Visual integrity

What you will be able to do

  • Recognise the five most common chart tricks

Before you start

A suggestion, never a lock — you can start here.

  • choosing-the-right-chart
Modules that help first

Syllabus

2 lessons · 26 min

Every lesson's title and summary is public. The lessons themselves open once you own the track.

Every lesson in Data Analytics: Statistics & Data Visualization

  1. Truncated and Dual Axes

    13 min

    Bars encode length, so bars must start at zero; lines encode position, so they need not. And two y-axes with free scales can make any two series look like they move together.

    Included with the track Simulation

  2. Cherry-Picked Ranges and Deceptive Areas

    13 min

    The same series can be "down 19%" or "up 10%" depending on where you start; a cumulative chart never falls; and an icon twice as tall looks four times as big.

    Included with the track Simulation
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$9
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