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Economics · Ch 13 — Organisation of Data

How Many Classes Should We Have?

13.5.3

How Many Classes Should We Have?

The number of classes is normally kept between six and fifteen — few enough to summarise, many enough to preserve detail.

When equal class intervals are used, the number of classes follows arithmetically from the range and the chosen class size:

Range=largest value−smallest value\text{Range} = \text{largest value} - \text{smallest value}

Number of classes=Rangesize of class interval\text{Number of classes} = \frac{\text{Range}}{\text{size of class interval}} …