[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-564122-105":53,"doc-detail-564122-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","save-the-pies-for-dessert","Save the Pies for Dessert","","Save the Pies for Dessert by Stephen Few critiques pie charts in business intelligence and explains why they are often misunderstood despite their familiar, visually inviting appearance. The piece argues that the part-to-whole message is easy to learn but that pie charts hinder accurate comparison because values are hard to decode except at a few common slice percentages. It demonstrates that sorting and positioning make reading less reliable and shows how tables or well-designed bar charts can present magnitudes more clearly.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/save-the-pies-for-dessert/564122/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/save-the-pies-for-dessert/564122.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Finn","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-12",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":79},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"Why does the article say pie charts are often misunderstood?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"It notes that pie charts have a colorful voice but rarely convey values in a way readers can accurately decode. Comparison is especially difficult when slice positions change or when percentages are not near common reference points.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is the main strength of a pie chart mentioned in the text?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"The pie chart directly embeds the part-to-whole relationship, making it obvious and intuitive for understanding fractions and slice ratios.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the author suggest alternatives can improve readability?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"The article shows that bar graphs with a percentage scale support more accurate discernment of many values, and that presenting the same information in a properly designed table is easier than the awkward arrangement around the pie.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},564122,1792359733,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":8,"category_name":11,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":79,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":20,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":139,"read_time":47},34359740700684,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1f400023980c374ae676?_k=1777273430885731487","perceptual edge  \nSave the Pies for Dessert  \nStephen Few, Perceptual Edge Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter August 2007  \nNot long ago I received an email from a colleague who keeps watch on business intelligence vendors and rates their products. She was puzzled that a particular product that I happen to like did not support pie charts, a feature that she assumed was basic and indispensable. Because of previous discussions between us, when I pointed out ineffective graphing practices that are popular in many BI products, she wondered if there might also be a problem with pie charts. Could this vendor’s omission of pie charts be intentional and justified? I explained  \nthat this was indeed the case, and praised the vendor’s design team for their good sense. Here sits the friendly pie chart:  \nIts slices are upturned into an inviting smile. Its simple charm is beloved by all but a few, welcomed almost everywhere; familiar and rarely threatening. Of all the graphs that play major roles in the lexicon of quantitative communication, however, the pie chart is by far the least effective. Its colorful voice is often heard, but rarely understood. It mumbles when it talks.  \nNothing in the graph design course that I teach is more controversial than what I say about pie charts. People love them dearly and are often shocked to hear me speak ill of them. When students in my course don’t raise objections immediately, despite the shock on their faces, they often approach me during a break to defend their frequent use of pies. Many, I suspect, respond this way because they can’t imagine how they could possibly convince people where they work to abandon their beloved pies.  \nPie charts are not without their strengths. The primary strength of a pie chart is the fact that the message “part-to-whole relationship” is built right into it in an obvious way. Children learn fractions by looking at pies sliced in various ways and decoding the ratio (quarter, half, three quarters, etc. ) of each slice. A bar graph doesn’t have this obvious purpose built into its design. Not as directly, anyway, but it can be built into bar graphs in a way that prompts people to think in terms of a whole and its parts. This can be accomplished in part by using a percentage scale. It is easy and natural to think in terms of various percentages in relation to  \nCopyright © 2007 Stephen Few, Perceptual Edge Page 1 of 14  \nthe whole of 100% . Seeing a bar extend to 25% along a quantitative scale conveys a part-towhole relationship only slightly less effectively than a pie chart with a quarter slice, especially if the bar graph’s title declares that it displays the parts of some total (for example,“Regional Breakdown of Total Revenue”) . Despite the obvious nature of a pie charts message, bar graphs provide a much better means to compare the magnitudes of each part. Pie charts only make it easy to judge the magnitude of a slice when it is close to 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% . Any percentages other than these are difficult to discern in a pie chart, but can be accurately discerned in a bar graph, thanks to the quantitative scale.  \nAllow me to illustrate. Here is a pie chart with six slices. Notice how easy it is to determine that the value of Company C (the green slice) is 25%, one quarter of the pie.  \nNow notice how that even the green slice, which was easy to read as 25% above, is no longer as easy to recognize as 25% in the chart below.  \nNone of the values have changed. I simply sorted the slices by size. In the earlier example, our ability to decode the green slice at 25% was assisted by the fact that the green slice began at the 6 o’clock position and extended neatly to the 9 o’clock position. Positions at the extreme top, right, bottom, and left of a circle mark 90 degree intervals from one another,  \nCopyright © 2007 Stephen Few, Perceptual Edge Page 2 of 14  \neach of which forms a right angle. These four positions, as well as the 90 right angles that the interv","cbCaiqXf8WTbOXrh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqXf8WTbOXrh","pdf",572802,"English","# Save the Pies for Dessert\n## Part-to-whole strengths and learning value\n## Difficulties in decoding and comparing slices\n## Labels, legends, and the readability trade-off\n## Turning pie information into tables\n## When graphs add meaningful relationships","[{\"question\":\"Why does the article say pie charts are often misunderstood?\",\"answer\":\"It notes that pie charts have a colorful voice but rarely convey values in a way readers can accurately decode. Comparison is especially difficult when slice positions change or when percentages are not near common reference points.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the main strength of a pie chart mentioned in the text?\",\"answer\":\"The pie chart directly embeds the part-to-whole relationship, making it obvious and intuitive for understanding fractions and slice ratios.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author suggest alternatives can improve readability?\",\"answer\":\"The article shows that bar graphs with a percentage scale support more accurate discernment of many values, and that presenting the same information in a properly designed table is easier than the awkward arrangement around the pie.\"}]","Save the Pies for Dessert | PDF",1791840406]