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Maths · Data

Compare line-graph change

Compare one change or gap between plotted values.

Free to use and free to share. There is no sign-up, no score, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere.

Practise it now

Tap the step where the line rises the most. Then say by how many books it rose across that step.

This exercise practises compare line-graph change alongside its own main skill, Reading values off a line graph.

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A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

Height of the classroom sunflower

Look at each step in turn. Between which two weeks did the sunflower fall by the largest amount?

Height recorded once each week.

  1. Week 3 → Week 4
  2. Week 5 → Week 6
  3. Week 1 → Week 2
  4. Week 4 → Week 5

Answer: Week 4 → Week 5

How you get there

Week 4 to Week 5 goes from 26 to 18, a fall of 8 centimetres, which is bigger than the fall across every other pair of neighbouring points.

Why the other answers tempt

The highest point on the graph is not the biggest step - a step is the gap between two neighbouring points.

If they are stuck, say this

Work out the fall for each pair of neighbouring points in turn, then compare those steps rather than the plotted heights.

Now do it live in Line Reader

What this exercise is doing

Line Reader

Tap the step where the line rises the most. Then say by how many books it rose across that step.

This engine’s own main skill is Reading values off a line graph. It practises compare line-graph change alongside it.

The steepest rise is from Tuesday to Wednesday: the line goes from 15 to 30, a rise of 15. Every other step on this graph moves less than that, which is what makes this one the answer rather than merely a big move. Counting the gridlines between the two ends gives the same number as subtracting, and the lines here go up in 5s. The steepest step is the one that climbs the most lines, not the one that ends highest.

  1. Step 1. Find it. Tap the steepest step of the line.
  2. Step 2. Read it. Now read the scale and choose how many books that is.

What to say if they get stuck

  1. Find the bar, row or slice the question names before you read anything. Getting the label right matters as much as the reading.
  2. The scale does not always count up in single steps. Work out what a single line is worth before you read anything off it.
  3. Keep your finger level as you slide from the board across to the scale. Drifting up or down by a line is the commonest slip there is.

Open Line Reader on its own page to share it

Where compare line-graph change sits in the 11+

The 11+ does not test these skills in isolation, and practising one in the wrong order wastes the practice. These are the skills the curriculum map connects this one to.

Secure this first

Read a line-graph value

A change comparison requires accurate plotted values.

How compare line-graph change differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises one other skill, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: compare one change or gap between plotted values, and it stops where excludes extrapolation beyond the graph.

Related maths skills

All maths 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about compare line-graph change

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

Compare one change or gap between plotted values. It is one of 55 named maths skills in the 11+, in the data strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

Compare line-graph change rests on something else being secure first

This skill depends on read a line-graph value. A free diagnostic checks those alongside every other maths skill, so you find out whether the problem is here or underneath it.