

Choosing intuitive axes - monort
http://unside.t4you.in/data/intuitive-axes/

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judofyr
I find this an interesting perspective because I prefer reading linear graphs.
Show me a linear graph and explain the axes and I'll easily see what kind of
distribution it is. Show me something that grows non-linearly and I would have
no idea if it's exponential or polynomial or what.

> We all know how much a thousand dollars is (as opposed to an income
> centile), and how hard it is to get a $1000 raise as opposed to how hard it
> is to get one that will push us up by one percentile.

The point here is that wealth is not linear. Getting a $1000 raise depends
entirely on what you're earning. What you're earning depends on where you live
and so on. With linear axes I can easily compare the numbers around my own
context, but it doesn't help me extrapolate beyond that. No matter how you
choose your axes will fix this.

Ultimately there's no _right_ answer to how to choose a scale. Different
scales will show different patterns. The log-scale is useful here because it
also represents the distribution of the wealth (to some extent). A log-scale
will basically stretch out the data points at the lower values, giving more
space to present the data for those who earn less. And there are more people
who earn less!

I do wish they presented the dollar-amount for the log-scale though.

EDIT: Wait, the income-rank is actually a percentile of how much people earn?
That's perfect! Then I can look at Rank=50 and know that 50% of the population
is represented by the left side of the chart. That's actually very useful.

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erikb
It's so great you made that article. This way we can still learn something
although having that data confusion in the morning.

