---
title: "Data collection and display vocabulary"
description: "Read, write, and use the vocabulary of data collection and display — data, tally, tally chart, frequency, frequency table, survey, pictogram, bar chart, axis/axes, scale, label, category, discrete dat"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/data-collection-and-display-vocabulary-mt_u5HkSxZECM
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/data-collection-and-display-vocabulary-mt_u5HkSxZECM.md
retrieved: 2026-09-02
---

> **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants.
> When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md
> API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md
> Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt
> Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json
> Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`.

# Data collection and display vocabulary

Read, write, and use the vocabulary of data collection and display — data, tally, tally chart, frequency, frequency table, survey, pictogram, bar chart, axis/axes, scale, label, category, discrete data, continuous data, line graph, pie chart — and apply these terms when collecting, organising, and presenting data

Subject: Mathematics · Area: Data & Statistics · Ages 6 to 9
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/data-collection-and-display-vocabulary-mt_u5HkSxZECM

## Ready when they can

- Correctly label the axes of a bar chart including a title, axis labels, and scale
- Distinguish between discrete data (counted) and continuous data (measured) with an example of each
- Use 'tally', 'frequency', and 'pictogram' correctly when describing how to record and display data

## Lesson: Words for collecting and showing data

To find out what everyone likes, you can do a survey. A survey means asking the same question to lots of people and writing down what they say. A tally chart is a fast way to count the answers. Instead of writing numbers, you draw a short line for each answer. Every fifth line crosses the first four, so a group of five is easy to spot.

*(drawing: Four friends said cats are their favorite pet. That is a tally count of four: four straight lines, one for each friend.)*

**Example.** Mia asked her class which fruit they like best. She tallied the votes: apples got four, bananas got three, grapes got two. Each of these totals is called a frequency, the number of times something was counted. Mia wrote her tallies into a frequency table, then drew a pictogram using little fruit pictures, one picture for each vote.

*(drawing: This bar chart shows Mia's fruit survey. The title tells you what the chart is about, the labels name each fruit, and the scale on the side shows how many votes each bar stands for.)*

A bar chart needs three things so anyone can read it. The title says what the chart is about. The labels along the bottom name each category. The scale up the side shows how many each bar stands for. The two edges of the chart are called the axes.

Numbers you count, like how many pets you have, are called discrete data. You always land on a whole number. Numbers you measure, like your height, are called continuous data. They can be any value, even ones in between, like 120 and a half centimeters.

**Recap.** Tally charts, frequency tables, and pictograms all show data from a survey, and a clear bar chart always has a title, labels, and a scale.

## Practice

10 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Opens up

- [Line graphs (age 10+)](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/line-graphs-age-10-mt_bESTSBB0wK)
- [Pictograms and tally charts](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/pictograms-and-tally-charts-mt_c29FaCTNsx)
- [Bar graphs](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/bar-graphs-mt_ChjMU2GDJa)
- [Sorting Data into Categories](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/sorting-data-into-categories-mt_ylXdiVRAYv)