Types of Graphs

Histogram

The figure below is a "histogram." It shows the distribution of a single variable. This example is from some survey data with 250 respondents. It shows the same data as shown on the "box plot" page of this website. Both the "histogram" and the "box plot" are designed to visually portray a distribution.

According to this histogram, 76 people said they purchased one car in the last 10 years. The contribution of a histogram is to visually portray how the variable is distributed. It gives a sense of the range of responses and the frequency of those responses. The overall shape of the chart is often informally called the "distribution" of the measure.

I have no idea what why over time this type of chart has come to be called a "histogram." The name makes it sound complicated, but it's really not.