Partitions of other totals

Frequency tables are examples of a more general type of table in which a total is partitioned into several categories. The individual values can therefore be interpreted as parts of a whole.

A set of values describes a partition if the sums of pairs values and the total for the table are meaningful values.

It is important to recognise when a table describes a partition — some graphical methods that will be described in the next section are only appropriate for partitions.

World crude oil production

The table below shows the source of all crude oil produced in 2005.

Region '000 barrels / day
North America
Central & S America
Europe
Eurasia
Middle East
Africa
Asia & Oceanea
10,881
6,344
5,233
11,152
23,108
9,645
7,444
Total 73,807

Although these values are not frequencies, their sum is the total world oil production in 2005 and the table partitions this total into seven regions. Note also that the sum of pairs of values can also be interpreted — the oil production for the Americas is (10,881 + 6,344).

Rainfall in Dakshin Dinajpur, India

The next table shows monthly rainfall in a district of India during 2006.

Month Rainfall (mm)
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
0.0
0.0
7.9
82.7
127.1
184.2
180.7
137.9
296.1
80.7
23.9
0.0
Total 1121.2

These values are a partition of the total rainfall for the year. Sums of adjacent values can also be interpreted — for example, the total rainfall in the Spring (March-May) is (7.9 + 82.7 + 127.1).