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CMA Intermediate · Financial Management and Business Data Analytics · Data Presentation: Visualisation and Graphical Presentation

A CMA analyst compares revenue of Firm A (₹400 crore) and Firm B (₹100 crore) using a bar chart where bar height is proportional to value. In a well-drawn chart starting at zero, how many times taller should Firm A's bar be than Firm B's bar?

Firm A's bar should be 4 times as tall as Firm B's. In a bar chart starting at zero, height is proportional to value, so the ratio is 400 divided by 100, which equals 4. Scaling by area or difference would distort the comparison.

  1. A4 timesCorrect
  2. B3 times
  3. C2 times
  4. D16 times

Explanation

Height must be proportional to value: 400/100 = 4. Three times would use the difference (300) mistakenly as a ratio. 16 would arise from squaring the ratio, which is wrongly applying area scaling to a one-dimensional bar.

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