Creating Bar and Pie Charts

Not all data is best shown with lines. If you’re comparing categories or showing proportions, bar charts and pie charts are better options.

This lesson introduces both chart types and when to use them.

Use plt.bar() to compare values across categories (e.g. sales per product or number of users per region).

Copy
categories = ["A", "B", "C"]
values = [10, 25, 15]

plt.bar(categories, values)
plt.title("Category Comparison")
plt.xlabel("Category")
plt.ylabel("Value")
plt.show()

Bar charts can be vertical (default) or horizontal using plt.barh().

Use plt.pie() to show parts of a whole — for example, market share percentages or budget distribution.

Copy
labels = ["Rent", "Food", "Transport"]
sizes = [40, 35, 25]

plt.pie(sizes, labels=labels)
plt.title("Monthly Expenses Breakdown")
plt.show()

Pie charts are best when you want to highlight relative proportions, not exact quantities.

Next, you’ll review the overall structure of a Matplotlib plot with a visual slide deck, then test what you’ve learned in a mid-chapter quiz.