Name:  

 
Data Analysis: Working with Graphs
ENV-105
Fall 2021

Graphs are one of the most common and important ways scientists communicate their results. Learning to understand graphing techniques – the language of graphs – will help you when we learn how to write a formal lab report at the end of the semester. Graphs are visual presentations of data that help us identify trends and understand relationships. We could present a table of numbers, but most of us have difficulty seeing a pattern in a large field of numbers. In a graph, we can quickly and easily see trends and relationships.
 
Below is a graph showing ecological footprints. Often we pass quickly over graphs like these that appear in text, but it’s rewarding to investigate them more closely, because their relationships can raise interesting questions. Answer the numbered questions below to make sure you understand graphs and graphing.
 
First make sure you know the parts of a graph. Usually there is a horizontal axis (also known as the “x-axis”) and a vertical axis (the “y-axis”). Usually, there is a dependent variable (y) that changes in response to an independent variable (x). In this case, ecological footprint (y) varies among countries (x). The questions below are where you should start any time you look at a new graph.


 
 
 
1.     What units are used for the dependent variable?
A)    Econological footprint (global Hectare per person) (0-12)
 
 
2.     What is the lowest value on this axis? What is the highest?
 
Ans)
 
3.     What do the colors of the bars represent?
 
 
 
 
4.     Which component (color) is the greatest (contributes most to ecological footprints) for the top 10 countries? For the bottom 10?
 
 
 
5.     Which country has the largest per-person ecological footprint? Which has the smallest?
 
 
 
 
 
6.     What is the approximate size of the largest per-person footprint? What about the smallest?
 
 
 
 
7.     For the United States, what is the total footprint per person? How much of that amount is represented by carbon emissions?
 
 
 
           
 
8.     Calculate your ecological footprint here: https://www. footprintcalculator. org/ What factors in your life have the greatest ecological footprint?
 
 
 
 
 
9.     What’s one easy way you can decrease your ecological footprint?
 
 
 
 
 
10.  Which of those are impossible to change? Why?