DI – Pie Charts

Pie Charts

The total quantity is distributed in a circle and as we know that total angle of a circle is
360°. The data can be plotted with respect to only one parameter. So in a way the total
quantity of the variable is equated to 360° and each portion of it is accordingly converted in
degrees.

For example income of a person is 18 lacs and he spends 5.4 lacs on rent, then rent will
occupy what portion of the pie chart of his income =
Pie-charts are useful for representing shares of various parties of a particular quantity, in
terms of degrees of percentages.

1%= 3.6o OR 1o =

5%= 18o
o
10%=36
o
15%= 54

20%=72o
o
25%= 90
o
30%=108

Example: the following pie chart gives the distribution of sales of XYZ corp amongst various
departments for the year 2014

Sales of XYZ Corp in 2014=1.4 million $

Sales

Food, 108 FMCG, 90

Pharma, 36
IT, 54

Electronics,
Apparel, 54
18

All figures in degrees

Proprietary and Confidential ABS Classes 1

DI – Pie Charts

1) What is the sales in Food sector?

Solution: Food sector represents 108o in the pie char. So its share in the pie is .

So its share in the total sales is .

Therefore the sales of food sector is :

o
Another way to calculate 108 = 30%, 30% of 1.4 million = .42 million

2) What is the difference in the sales of Electronics and FMCG sectors?

Electronics represents 18o and Pharma represents 90o

To find the difference between the sales of the 2 sectors we don’t need to find their
individual sales figures.

Difference in terms of degrees = 72o

So difference in terms of sales =

3) What is the percentage share of IT sector?

o
IT = 54

Therefore percentage share = 15% (as mentioned in the text above)

4) What is the ratio of the sales of Apparel and FMCG sector?

Again to find the ratio we don’t need to calculate their respective sales. The ratio of sales
will be same as the ratio of their share of the pie.

Therefore ratio of Apparel and FMCG = 54:90= 3:5

5) If next year the sales of Food sector decreases by 50% and that of Pharma increases by
25%, then what will be the ratio of the sales next year?

Since this is a ratio question again we don’t need to find the actual sales figure. Let us
assume that in 2014, the sales of

Food= 108

Pharma = 36

Proprietary and Confidential ABS Classes 2

DI – Pie Charts

So after the respective changes next year sales will be:

Food: 54

Pharma: 45

Ratio = 54:45= 6:5

6) If next year each sector grows by 10%, then what will be the percentage share of the IT
sector?

If each sector grows by 10%, then the total will also grow by 10%. Since the growth is same
in each sector, therefore the percentage share of each sector will remain the same.

Therefore share of Apparel sector will be same as the share this year = 15%

7) If next year each sector grows by 10% and FMCG grows by 30%, then what will be the
share of IT sector next year?
a) 24.1%
b) 24.8%
c) 25%
d) None of the above

Each sector grows by 10% and FMCG grows by EXTRA 20%

Since each sector grows by 10%, therefore total will grow by 10%

Lets assume the total sales this year is 360, therefore after increase of 10% it becomes
360+36= 396

Now FMCG grows by another 20% i.e. 20% of 90 = 18

So total will also increase by 18. Therefore total 396+18= 414

Pharma sector next year = 90 + 30% of 90= 90 + 27= 117

Percentage share of Pharma next year =

OR ALTERNATIVELY

Each sector grows by 10% and pharma grows by 30%, so share of pharma in total sales must
increase. At present it is 25%, so answer must be more than 25%. Therefore option D.

Proprietary and Confidential ABS Classes 3

DI – Pie Charts

Learning:
1) Pie char mostly gives us information in terms of percentage share of every component of
pie as well as the ratio relationship between the components
2) If a question is asking in terms of percentage of ratio and not in terms of absolute
numbers, then most of the times we don’t need to calculate absolute numbers.

Proprietary and Confidential ABS Classes 4