For which of the following data sets will a $\mathrm{pie} \mathrm{chart}$ be most useful?

• A. The favorite ice cream flavor of each student in a class
• B. The number of books read by each student in a month
• C. The daily temperatures recorded over a week
• D. The heights of students measured in centimeters

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that a pie chart is most useful for displaying categorical data, where the data can be divided into distinct groups or categories.
2. Identify the type of data in each option: 'The favorite ice cream flavor of each student' is categorical data because flavors are distinct categories.
3. 'The number of books read by each student', 'daily temperatures', and 'heights of students' are numerical data, which are better represented by other types of charts like histograms or line graphs.
4. Recognize that pie charts show proportions or percentages of a whole, so they work best when you want to visualize how a total is divided among categories.
5. Conclude that the data set about favorite ice cream flavors is the best choice for a pie chart because it involves categories and allows you to show the proportion of students preferring each flavor.