Tally marks and frequency tables

Navya has a list of 31 classmates and each one's favourite game. But in a long list of names it is hard to see which game is most popular. We need to organise the data.

A teacher, Shri Nilesh, shows a good way. He wants to buy sweets for the new year, so he writes the sweets on the board: jalebi, gulab jamun, gujiya, barfi, rasgulla. As each child tells him their choice, he puts a tally mark (a small line |) beside that sweet. When he reaches the fifth mark, he draws it across the four before it, so every bundle shows 5. Bundles are quick to count: two bundles and three more lines make 5 + 5 + 3 = 13.

His finished table: jalebi 6, gulab jamun 9, gujiya 13, barfi 3, rasgulla 7. These numbers are frequencies: the frequency of a choice is how many times it was chosen. A table like this is a frequency table. The largest frequency shows the most popular choice: gujiya, with 13, is the class's favourite. (A frequency table tells you how many children want each sweet, but not who.)

When Navya's games are tallied the same way: hockey 8, kabaddi 6, cricket 6, satoliya (pittu) 5, football 4, badminton 2. These add up to 31, one for each classmate. So hockey is the most popular game, not cricket!