Lie Factor

Many problems can arise when fancy graphs are used over plain ones. Distortions can occur when the heights of objects are used to indicate the value because most people will pay attention to the areas of the objects rather than their height. The lie factor is the ratio of the effect apparent in the graph to actual effect in the data; if it deviates by more than 0.05 from 1, the graph is generally unacceptable. The lie factor in the following graph is almost 6.