4 ms·

Come on folks, that's not particularly charitable. Of course the numbers on the pie chart are arbitrary, the whole article is clearly presented as the author's

Come on folks, that's not particularly charitable. Of course the numbers on the pie chart are arbitrary, the whole article is clearly presented as the author's opinion. I still found it more useful than just saying "everything is important".

nerdponx 9y ago
It's not that the numbers are arbitrary, it's that the chart flagrantly implements the 3 biggest "don't ever do this" items taught in data visualization courses, books, and articles. In an article aimed at novice data scientists, no less! It would be like reading an article about what an aspiring engineer needs to know about lower-level systems programming, and then coming across a snippet of bubble sort written in the ugliest Perl you can imagine.
- Myrmornis 9y ago
  What on Earth's wrong with it? It's perfectly clear to normal people. And please, don't reference Tufte. People who go round criticizing data visualizations and quoting Tufte are like audiophiles -- no-one else notices or cares.
  - f00_ 9y ago
    Why does it use green for both Probability and Algorithms? Why does it use red for both Linear Algebra and Others? Why is it 3d? Thin font is hard to read
    - Myrmornis 9y ago
      > Why does it use green for both Probability and Algorithms? Why does it use red for both Linear Algebra and Others? I don't know very much about variations in human color perception, but to me at least, all the colors are clearly distinct (Algorithms&Complexity is a light blue (cyan perhaps), and Others is a sort of pink/purple (magenta perhaps). > Why is it 3d? Why not? Don't be so serious!
      - f00_ 9y ago
        i may in fact be color blind
  - BeetleB 9y ago
    >What on Earth's wrong with it? The usual things that are wrong with pie charts: Ask yourself: How useful would the chart be had the numbers not been provided? Why did he have to give the actual figures? Perhaps because it would be hard to gauge areas? Especially for a 3-D pie chart where you are not looking at it head on. The 25% is not much bigger than the 15% (it should be 66% bigger). And with that projection, it's hard to tell. In fact, the 25% looks like one fourth of the pie chart - the angle it makes is 90 degrees. That's good and as it should be. Looking at Multivariate calculus and Algorithms combined, it really looks like 90 degrees to me too. But it's not 25%. What value is added by padding blank spaces between all the slices of the chart? Seriously - how does that help at all? Imagine looking at a pie chart head on (i.e. in 2-D), and then seeing they decided to expand the circle and add spaces. Why? Now imagine presenting this as a simple bar chart. It would be clearer, and the pie chart shows nothing more than what a simple bar chart would. The bar chart would be less confusing.

nerdponx 9y ago

It's not that the numbers are arbitrary, it's that the chart flagrantly implements the 3 biggest "don't ever do this" items taught in data visualization courses, books, and articles. In an article aimed at novice data scientists, no less! It would be like reading an article about what an aspiring engineer needs to know about lower-level systems programming, and then coming across a snippet of bubble sort written in the ugliest Perl you can imagine.

Myrmornis 9y ago
What on Earth's wrong with it? It's perfectly clear to normal people. And please, don't reference Tufte. People who go round criticizing data visualizations and quoting Tufte are like audiophiles -- no-one else notices or cares.
- f00_ 9y ago
  Why does it use green for both Probability and Algorithms? Why does it use red for both Linear Algebra and Others? Why is it 3d? Thin font is hard to read
  - Myrmornis 9y ago
    > Why does it use green for both Probability and Algorithms? Why does it use red for both Linear Algebra and Others? I don't know very much about variations in human color perception, but to me at least, all the colors are clearly distinct (Algorithms&Complexity is a light blue (cyan perhaps), and Others is a sort of pink/purple (magenta perhaps). > Why is it 3d? Why not? Don't be so serious!
    - f00_ 9y ago
      i may in fact be color blind
- BeetleB 9y ago
  >What on Earth's wrong with it? The usual things that are wrong with pie charts: Ask yourself: How useful would the chart be had the numbers not been provided? Why did he have to give the actual figures? Perhaps because it would be hard to gauge areas? Especially for a 3-D pie chart where you are not looking at it head on. The 25% is not much bigger than the 15% (it should be 66% bigger). And with that projection, it's hard to tell. In fact, the 25% looks like one fourth of the pie chart - the angle it makes is 90 degrees. That's good and as it should be. Looking at Multivariate calculus and Algorithms combined, it really looks like 90 degrees to me too. But it's not 25%. What value is added by padding blank spaces between all the slices of the chart? Seriously - how does that help at all? Imagine looking at a pie chart head on (i.e. in 2-D), and then seeing they decided to expand the circle and add spaces. Why? Now imagine presenting this as a simple bar chart. It would be clearer, and the pie chart shows nothing more than what a simple bar chart would. The bar chart would be less confusing.