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histogramnormalizationarea

Histogram normalised to area 1


i have a histogram with the y-axis showing the proportion in percentage. That makes sense to me but now i have read that histograms can be normalized with the result that the area of the rectangles is 1.

Can someone explain me the idea,reason behind this? Many thanks!


Solution

  • Not all histograms are normalised.

    For example, individuals by hair color:

    • Blond 2 (Alex, Beckham)
    • Gray 3 (Foo, Bar, Baz)
    • ...

    This histogram is not normalised, because individuals in result set are relevant.

    Compare with repairs by car make:

    • Fiat 81%
    • Daewoo 18%
    • Toyota 1%

    This histogram is normalised to 100% because individual number of repairs is irrelevant.