Which description best defines a histogram?

• A. A bar chart with gaps between bars
• B. A line chart of frequencies
• C. Bar chart where the area of the bar represents frequency and bars are adjacent
• D. Pie chart of proportions

Answer: (C)

Histograms show how a continuous variable is distributed across intervals. The bars are placed next to each other with no gaps because the data are continuous, and the area of each bar reflects the number of observations in that interval (area proportional to frequency). This makes the description “a bar chart where the area of the bar represents frequency and bars are adjacent” the best fit. The other descriptions describe different chart types: a bar chart with gaps between bars is for separate categories, a line chart of frequencies is not how a histogram presents grouped data, and a pie chart shows proportions.