4 ms·

What's wrong with 'The layered pie slices.'?

• sp332 13y ago
  Apple, at 34%, is almost as big as Google, at 89%.
  • Someone 13y ago
    The percentges add up to 130%, too. Assuming a simple typo, where the 89 should be 59, the pie slices still look wrong to me. Looking at the relative sizes of the 4% and the 3% slices, that might be a rounding issue (could of instance be 3.7% and 3.3%), but the Apple and Android ones look too big to me.
    • ttflee 13y ago
      Yeah, a typo can explain the total percentage issue. But I don't see how wrong it would be to use the pie graph in such a way per se. IMHO, the foremost feature of pie graphs, the angle of sector, is kept.
    • erichurkman 13y ago
      It turns out you can have your pie and eat 30% of it, too.
  • ttflee 13y ago
    Sorry, but I could not get it. If Apple is at 34%, with Google/Android 89%, Windows Phone 4%, and Blackberry 3%, it would be a total of 130%, but 130% of what?
    • sp332 13y ago
      Oh! I think the point is: if you're comparing pieces to the whole, you should make a normal pie chart where the pieces are all on the same level. Stacking them up that way isn't really a pie chart at all, it's just a round bar chart.
      • eCa 13y ago
        Except that you most likely shouldn't use a pie chart to begin with. Unless you know you shouldn't, then it might be ok.
• elements 13y ago
  (apart from the numbers adding up to 130%...) One issue is that the area of the figure should correspond to the number it represents. For example, the area for 3% should be 75% of the size of the area for 4%, but it clearly isn't in this illustration. If they don't match up, what is the point of having a visual at all? To show that 3% is smaller than 4%? Even if some of the others match up (I can't tell for sure), their shape is so different that it really doesn't give us any better understanding of how 34% compares to 89%. And again, what is the point of a visualization that doesn't aid in understanding?