✋ Frequency Tables

What is frequency?

Frequency means how many times something happens, or how many there are.

Tally marks

We count in fives with tally marks, so they’re quick to add up:

• 1 to 4: draw a line for each one
• 5: draw a line across the four

To read a tally: count the groups of 5, then add the single lines. 12 = 5 + 5 + 2.

A frequency table

A frequency table has three columns: the item, the tally, and the frequency (the tally written as a number).

• Total frequency = all the frequencies added together = how many were counted or asked
• The item with the highest frequency is the most common one (the mode)

Watch out! The 5th mark goes across the first four. It doesn’t make a new line on its own.

Top tip: cross things off as you count them, so you never count anything twice.