The three charts below are a good example – it is very hard to work out which of the five areas is the largest. The pie chart’s circularity means the areas lack a common reference point.

The pie chart is headlined, "Look closely at this chart of federal spending." It says spending on the "military" accounts for 57 percent of the federal dollar, with other categories ranging from 1 ...

Since it is tax day I chose a chart from the IRS for my comments today. Figure 1 shows the chart with the labels cropped out. The wedges of a pie chart add to 100%. Please estimate the percentage ...

Figure 2. Arrow chart used as an alternative to the multiple pie charts. The base of the arrow is the 2002 budget and the arrowhead points to the 2003 budget.

Edward Tufte hates pie charts. Edward Tufte is also the only chart theorist normal people have ever heard of. And so yesterday the Internet was gripped with anti-pie fervor. My friend Tom Lee ...