Lesson 4 Interpret Measurement Data on Line Plots

- Let’s make sense of line plots with lengths in half inches and quarter inches.

Warm-up Notice and Wonder: A List and a Line Plot

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Lengths in Inches

3
5
4
4
5
6
7
5
3
4
4
5
6
6
4

Line plot from 0 to 7 by ones. Horizontal axis, length in inches. Beginning at 3, the number of X’s above each number is 2, 5, 4, 3, 1.

Activity 1 A Set of Seedlings

Illustration. A seedling.

heights of seedlings (in inches)

$\frac{1}{2}$
$1$
$1$
$\frac{1}{2}$
$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$2 \frac{1}{2}$
$4$
$\frac{1}{2}$
$3$
$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$5$

$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$2 \frac{1}{2}$
$3$
$\frac{1}{2}$
$2 \frac{1}{2}$
$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$1$
$1 \frac{1}{2}$
$4$
$2$

Line plot from 0 to 6 by ones. Horizontal axis, height of seedlings in inches. Hash marks at halves. Beginning at one half, the number of X’s above each one half increment is 4, 3, 6, 1, 3, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1.

Write 3 statements about the measurements represented in the line plot.
What questions could be answered more easily with the line plot than the list? Write at least 2 questions.

Activity 2 All About Twigs

Line plot from 0 to 8 by ones. Horizontal axis, length of twigs in inches. Hash marks by fourths.

How many twig lengths are represented in the line plot?
How many of the twigs are $6 \frac{1}{2}$ inches long?
How many of the twigs are less than 6 inches long?
How many of the twigs are more than 6 inches long?
What is the length of the shortest twig?
What is the length of the longest twig?
What is the most common twig length?
Add an “x” to the line plot that would represent a twig with a length between 3 and 4 inches.
What is the length of the twig you added to the line plot?

Practice Problem

Problem 1

The line plot shows the width of some postcards in inches.

Dot plot from 0 to 7 by ones. Postcard widths, inches. Beginning at 4 and a half, the number of X’s above each increment are 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 1.

How many postcards measured $5 \frac{1}{2}$ inches?
How many postcards measured 6 inches or more?
How many postcards were measured for the line plot?