Is this graph misleading? A survey shows Christmas 45%, Birthday 10%, Anniversary 35%, Valentine’s Day 15%, Mother’s Day 15%. The sum of the percentages appears to exceed 100%.

Is this graph misleading? A survey shows Christmas 45%, Birthday 10%, Anniversary 35%, Valentine’s Day 15%, Mother’s Day 15%. The sum of the percentages appears to exceed 100%.

• A. Yes. The sum of the percentages is more than 100.
• B. No. The percentages add to 100%.
• C. Cannot determine.
• D. It is accurate.

Answer: (A)

Understanding multi-response survey data helps here. When respondents can choose more than one occasion for a gift, each percentage shows the share of people who selected that occasion, not a slice of a single, whole group. That means a person can be counted in several categories, so the totals can add up to more than 100%. Here, 45% + 10% + 35% + 15% + 15% = 120%, which simply reflects overlap among responses. So the graph appears misleading only if you expect the totals to sum to 100% for a single-respondent distribution; since it’s multi-response data, the sum exceeding 100% is possible.

Understanding multi-response survey data helps here. When respondents can choose more than one occasion for a gift, each percentage shows the share of people who selected that occasion, not a slice of a single, whole group. That means a person can be counted in several categories, so the totals can add up to more than 100%. Here, 45% + 10% + 35% + 15% + 15% = 120%, which simply reflects overlap among responses. So the graph appears misleading only if you expect the totals to sum to 100% for a single-respondent distribution; since it’s multi-response data, the sum exceeding 100% is possible.