A dot plot is a way to show data on a number line. It is the same idea as the line plot from Grade 4 — just with dots instead of X marks.

Every dot plot has four parts:

• Title — what the data is about (for example, “Hours on Homework”).
• Key — what each dot stands for (usually each dot = 1 student).
• Axis label — what the numbers along the bottom mean.
• Dots — one dot for each piece of data, stacked above the matching number.

To read a dot plot, count the dots above a single number. That count is the frequency for that value. The number with the tallest stack is the mode — the most common value.

To build a dot plot from a frequency table, draw the right number of dots above each tick to match the frequency in the table. The total number of dots equals the total in the table.