What is data?
Data is information we gather, like the favourite fruits of your friends or the colours of cars in a car park. To use data well, we do three things:
- Collect — gather the information (ask, count, or observe).
- Classify — sort the data into groups that are alike.
- Arrange — put the groups in a neat order, often in a table with tally marks.
Using a tally table
A tally mark is a small line for each item. We group tallies in fives: |||| with a line across means 5.
Worked example
Ali asks 8 friends their favourite fruit: 3 say apple, 2 say banana, 3 say mango. Collect: he has 8 answers. Classify: apple, banana, mango. Arrange:
| Apple | 3 |
| Banana | 2 |
| Mango | 3 |
Check: 3 + 2 + 3 = 8. It matches!
Remember
- Collect, then classify into groups, then arrange in a table.
- The totals should add up to how many you collected.