Question

The chart above, used for the previous question, plots the cost, producer's selling price and retailer's selling price, in rupees, for 11 items prepared by a sweetshop.

Which of the following conclusion can be drawn from the diagram?

• A. Retailer's selling price for mistisukh was more than producer's selling price for chicken titbit.
• B. Difference between retailer's selling price and producer's selling price for fish kachouri was more than that of cream roll.
• C. These are three types of margins for all items.
• D. The three lines that connect different points, in the diagram above, are superfluous.

Hint:

Check whether the x-axis is a real continuous scale before trusting the lines joining the points, and count how many genuine margins three price lines can actually give.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The x-axis of this chart lists 11 different, unrelated sweetshop items side by side, purely as separate categories. It is not a continuous scale like time or quantity. Keep that in mind while checking each option.

1. Retailer's selling price for mistisukh more than producer's selling price for chicken titbit: This compares two different price series for two different, unrelated items. Even if the chart happens to show the retailer's line for mistisukh above the producer's line for chicken titbit at those two points, that comparison mixes two unconnected categories and is not a conclusion the chart is built to support.
2. Difference between retailer's and producer's selling price for fish kachouri more than cream roll: Again, this asks us to read off and compare two separate small gaps for two separate items with some precision, which a hand read chart cannot support reliably.
3. These are three types of margins for all items: The chart has three price lines, cost, producer's price, retailer's price, not three margins. Only two margins can be built from three price lines: producer's margin and retailer's margin. Calling the three lines three margins is factually wrong.
4. The three lines that connect different points are superfluous: Since the x-axis items, panir kachouri, chicken pizza, fish spring roll, and so on, are separate, unrelated categories and not points on a continuous scale, drawing connecting lines between them is misleading. It suggests a trend across categories that does not exist. The lines only help the eye group each series together, they carry no real trend information, so they are indeed superfluous.

Let's summarize:

• Line charts should only connect points that lie on a genuine continuous axis.
• Here the categories are unrelated products, so the connecting lines add visual clutter without adding information.

The only conclusion the chart safely supports is that the connecting lines are superfluous, option (E).