Skill: Identify most and least common categories

A category is the name of a group, such as a color or animal. The frequency is how many objects or responses are in that group.

To find the most and least common categories:

1. Count the marks, pictures, or bars in each category.
2. Compare the counts.
3. The category with the greatest count is the most common.
4. The category with the smallest count is the least common.
5. If categories have the same count, they tie.

Example

Each square represents 1 student’s favorite color.

Color	Picture graph	Count
Red	■ ■ ■ ■	4
Blue	■ ■	2
Green	■ ■ ■ ■	4
Yellow	■ ■	2

First, compare the counts: $4$, $2$, $4$, and $2$.

• The greatest count is $4$. Red and green are tied for most common.
• The smallest count is $2$. Blue and yellow are tied for least common.

Remember: Red, green, blue, and yellow are the category names. The numbers $4$ and $2$ tell how many students chose each color.