A Picture Graph is just what it sounds like - a graph where you use pictures to represent items or numbers. It’s also known as a pictograph or a pictogram.

One picture can represent different numbers of items, so you need to be sure to examine the entire graph in order to interpret it correctly.

Pictures can also be shown in different sizes to represent different amounts, or could show half of an item to represent half of the amount.

For example,

The cupcake represents 10 cupcakes sold. The half represents 5.

When the picture represents more than one item, you often must use multiplication to identify the exact number of items.

Let’s take a look at a Picture Graph that shows Bake Sale results for Room 10.

BAKE SALE RESULTS

4 cupcakes x 10 = 40 cupcakes total sold on Monday
5 cupcakes x 10 = 50 cupcakes total sold on Tuesday
2 cupcakes x 10 = 20 cupcakes total sold on Wednesday

Now see if you can figure out the rest…

3 cupcakes x 10 = ?? cupcakes total sold on Thursday

And now it gets tricky!

5.5 cupcakes x 10 = ?? cupcakes sold on Friday

Remember that half a cupcake is equal to 5 cupcakes since a whole represents 10.