Question

the bar chart below shows the speed (in gigaflops using a test package) of several processors. it is intended to be used to compare the overall speeds of the processors for consumers. indicate features that would improve the representation of the data in the bar graph below. if there are no possible improvements, indicate so. select all that apply: a: no improvements can be made. b: the vertical axis should have a zero-break. c: the vertical axis ticks need to be placed differently. d: the axes labels need to be added. e: the horizontal axis scale is not appropriate.

Explanation:

• Option A: Incorrect. There are improvements possible.
• Option B: A zero - break on the vertical axis (starting from 0) would mislead as the data range is 160 - 170, and a zero - break would exaggerate differences. So this is not an improvement.
• Option C: The vertical axis ticks are at 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, which is appropriate for the data range (processor speeds around 160 - 170 GFLOPS). So no need to place ticks differently.
• Option D: The axes already have labels ("Processor" for horizontal and "Speed (GFLOPS)" for vertical), so this is incorrect.
• Option E: The horizontal axis has processors A, B, C, D, which is appropriate for categorizing the processors. So this is incorrect. Wait, actually, re - evaluating: The vertical axis starts at 160, but the data is close to 160 - 170. However, the main issue is not with the axis labels (they are present) or horizontal axis scale (processors are categorical). But wait, the original graph: the vertical axis ticks are placed with an interval of 2, which is fine for the data. But actually, the correct answer is A? Wait no, let's re - check. The graph has axis labels (horizontal: Processor, vertical: Speed (GFLOPS)). The vertical axis ticks are 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, which is appropriate for the data range (since the speeds are in that range). The horizontal axis has the four processors, which is appropriate. A zero - break would be bad here as it would stretch the graph and mislead. So actually, no improvements can be made? Wait, maybe I made a mistake earlier. Let's re - analyze each option:

1. Option A: If the graph already has appropriate axis labels, appropriate axis ticks (vertical axis has ticks at 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170 which is suitable for the data range of ~160 - 170 GFLOPS), and the horizontal axis (processors as categories) is appropriate, and a zero - break is not needed (as it would distort the data visualization for this range), then no improvements can be made.

1. Option B: A zero - break (starting the vertical axis at 0) would make the differences between the bars look much larger than they are (since the actual data is from 160 - 170), so this is not an improvement.

1. Option C: The vertical axis ticks are placed with an interval of 2, which is reasonable for the data range (the speeds differ by small amounts, so a small interval helps in seeing differences). So no need to place ticks differently.

1. Option D: The axes already have labels ("Processor" for x - axis and "Speed (GFLOPS)" for y - axis), so this is incorrect.

1. Option E: The horizontal axis has the four processors (A, B, C, D) as categories, which is appropriate for a bar graph comparing processors. So this is incorrect.

So the correct option is A.

Answer:

A: No improvements can be made.