ITPEC FE Morning October 2022 Question 77
Which of the following is a chart that represents values over a period (frequently one year) and shows simultaneously monthly figures (or weekly or daily), cumulative totals, and the moving averages?
Explanation
Z chart — it plots the monthly figures, their cumulative total and the moving total over a year on one graph.
Three lines over twelve months:
- •Monthly figures along the bottom
- •Cumulative total from the first month, rising diagonally to the year's total
- •Moving annual total, the sum of the latest twelve months (twelve times the moving average), across the top
Together the lines form a Z. A rising moving total means the business is growing, a flat one that it is stable, a falling one that it is declining, with seasonal swings smoothed out.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) Pie intersection chart — not a chart of values over time; pie-type charts show the composition of a whole at one point
- •(b) Radar chart — compares several items on axes radiating from a centre to show balance, with no time axis
- •(c) SD chart — the semantic differential chart profiles ratings between pairs of opposite adjectives; it shows neither cumulative nor moving totals
Key rule: Monthly values plus cumulative total plus moving total over one year is the Z chart; the slope of the moving total gives the trend.
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