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Pie graph

Use a pie chart to compare parts to the whole when you have only one data set.

The pie chart, one of the simplest graph types, consists of a circle (or "pie") divided into two or more sections ("slices"). Pie charts show the proportion of parts to the whole. By labeling each pie slice with the quantity it represents, you can also allow a comparison of parts to each other, although not as effectively as you could with a bar graph or other graph type.

• Each pie chart can graph only one data set, with each data point represented by a pie slice.
  
  
• To keep your graph readable and allow easy comparisons, avoid dividing pies into more than six slices.
  
  
• Negative data points are ignored and not shown.
  
  
• You can draw any pie chart in either 2D or 3D form. In 3D form, a pie chart can be tilted and the depth of the pie can be adjusted.
  
  
• You can highlight any slice by "exploding" it (moving it slightly away from the center of the pie).
  
  
• A pie chart isn’t drawn on an X-Y or any other kind of grid.
  
  

Use a pie graph...

• To graph a single data set when your primary message is the relationship of the parts to the whole.
  
  

Other graph types to consider

• If you’re more concerned with comparing parts to each other than to the whole, try a bar graph.
  
  
• If you have more than one data set and want to compare parts to the whole (one data set compared to the sum of all data sets), consider a stacked bar graph or are graph.

In place of the usual legend, you can label pie slices with text.