Preliminary Activity: Consider the data presented in the table below on the number of homicides in the city of New York for the years 1985 through 1996.

 

Year	Homicides	Year	Homicides
1985	1384	1991	2154
1986	1582	1992	1995
1987	1672	1993	1946
1988	1892	1994	1561
1989	1905	1995	1177
1990	2245	1996	983

     Study the data and find a way to visually present it so that the trends in the homicide rate are easily seen. Based on this visual presentation, explain as best you can the trends found in the data.
     Numerous publications choose graphs or charts to present raw data, since a graph or chart is often very easy to read and trends in the data can be immediately obtained. A brief glance at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today will quickly convince you of this fact. However, one word of warning, graphs and charts can also be used to distort and misrepresent data.