Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
2 min.
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to DynaMath magazine.
STANDARDS
CCSS: 3.MD.B.3
TEKS: 3.8A, 3.8B
Article Options
Presentation View
Holiday Spending
Tetra Images/Getty Images
How do you plan to celebrate the holidays? In the U.S., holiday fun usually involves gifts, delicious food, and colorful decorations. But all of those items typically cost money. In fact, American adults planned to spend an average of $881 on winter holidays last year. That’s more money than what people spend on Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day combined!
The circle graph on the next page shows how U.S. adults planned to spend their money during the 2020 holiday season. How would your holiday spending compare?
Circle graphs are visual displays used to compare categories of data. Theyʼre also known as pie charts. The graph appears as a circle divided into sectors, or slices. The data are shown as percents, or parts of a whole, that add up to 100% (1 whole). This circle graph compares the percentage of money U.S. adults planned to spend on several holiday items.
1. TITLE: Tells you what the graph is about
2. PERCENT: Shows the percent for each part of the whole. It is calculated by dividing the part by the whole and then multiplying by 100.
Example: $502 ÷ $881 = 0.57 0.57 x 100 = 57%
3. SECTOR: A wedge that represents a particular category. It’s one part of the whole circle.
4. CATEGORY: Tells what each sector represents
5. SOURCE: Where the data is from
Now You Try It
Use the circle graph to answer the questions.
What is the purpose of a circle graph?
A. to count items
B. to track changes in dataover time
C. to compare parts of a whole
D. to compare bars of data
On what category of holiday items did adults plan to spend the most money?
A. gifts for family
B. gifts for friends
C. candy and food
D. flowers
On which holiday item did adults plan to spend 7% of their money?
Your neighbor just got back from holiday shopping. He went to a flower shop, a grocery store, and a gift shop. At which place would you expect him to have spent the least amount of money? Why?
Continue Your Learning
Poll: Which category would you spend the most money on for the holidays?