AQA GCSE Maths

Pie charts

AQA GCSE Maths revision on Pie charts. Aligned to the AQA GCSE Mathematics 8300 specification. This bank has 16 practice questions on this topic.

Sample questions (3 of 16)

  1. Question 1

    A pie chart shows the favourite colours of a class. If the sector for 'Blue' is larger than the sector for 'Red', what can you definitively conclude?

    • A) More students chose Blue than Red.
    • B) Blue is a more popular colour in the school.
    • C) Exactly half the class chose Blue.
    • D) The number of students choosing Blue is double that of Red.
    Show answer

    Answer: More students chose Blue than Red.

    Pie charts represent data as proportions of a whole. A larger sector area corresponds to a larger frequency within the dataset, regardless of the specific numbers involved.

  2. Question 2

    Two pie charts show the results of a survey in two different schools, School A and School B. School A has 100 students and School B has 500 students. Why can you not compare the number of students directly by looking at the sector sizes?

    • A) Pie charts only show percentages, not actual numbers.
    • B) The total populations (the 'wholes') are different sizes.
    • C) The circles are different sizes.
    • D) Pie charts cannot be used to compare two different groups.
    Show answer

    Answer: The total populations (the 'wholes') are different sizes.

    A sector representing 25% of a pie chart is the same size regardless of the total population. Without knowing the total number of items in each 'whole', you cannot determine which sector represents a higher count of individuals.

  3. Question 3

    A student is asked to represent a dataset where one category accounts for 105% of the total. What is the main issue with using a pie chart for this data?

    • A) The categories must be mutually exclusive.
    • B) Pie charts cannot display more than 100% of a total.
    • C) The angles would exceed 360 degrees.
    • D) The data is not categorical.
    Show answer

    Answer: Pie charts cannot display more than 100% of a total.

    The entire area of a pie chart represents the sum of all parts, which is 100% or 360 degrees. If a category exceeds the total, it implies the data is not a single set of parts making a whole, making a pie chart mathematically invalid.

Want to test yourself on the remaining cards for this topic?

13 more questions on Pie charts — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Maths spec.

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