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Holiday Spending

By Jessica McKenna-Ratjen

From the December 2021 / January 2022 Issue

Focus Area: Measurement and Data,

The Story
Resources

How do you plan to celebrate the holidays? In the U.S., holiday fun usually involves gifts, delicious food, and colorful decorations. But all of those items typically cost money. In fact, American adults planned to spend an average of $881 on winter holidays last year. That’s more money than what people spend on Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day combined!

The circle graph below shows how U.S. adults planned to spend their money during the 2020 holiday season. How would your holiday spending compare?

Circle Graphs

Circle graphs are visual displays used to compare categories of data. Theyʼre also known as pie charts. The graph appears as a circle divided into sectors, or slices. The data are shown as percents, or parts of a whole, that add up to 100% (1 whole). This circle graph compares the percentage of money U.S. adults planned to spend on several holiday items.

1. TITLE: Tells you what the graph is about

2. PERCENT: Shows the percent for each part of the whole. It is calculated by dividing the part by the whole and then multiplying by 100.

Example:
$502 ÷ $881 = 0.57
0.57 x 100 = 57%

3. SECTOR: A wedge that represents a particular category. It’s one part of the whole circle.

4. CATEGORY: Tells what each sector represents

5. SOURCE: Where the data is from

Now You Try It

Use the circle graph to answer the questions.

What is the purpose of a circle graph?

A. to count items

B. to track changes in dataover time

C. to compare parts of a whole

D. to compare bars of data

On what category of holiday items did adults plan to spend the most money?

A. gifts for family

B. gifts for friends

C. candy and food

D. flowers

On which holiday item did adults plan to spend 7% of their money?

Your neighbor just got back from holiday shopping. He went to a flower shop, a grocery store, and a gift shop. At which place would you expect him to have spent the least amount of money? Why?