Maths Library

Pie Charts: Year 8 maths

This topic covers interpreting and constructing circular proportional charts using sector angles and total frequencies. Pupils practise calculating sector frequencies, finding underlying totals, and converting fractions to degrees.

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What this covers

Pie Charts is taught in Year 8 (age 12 to 13, KS3) as a main teaching focus. It sits in the Statistics strand.

Worked example

A pie chart represents 120 people. If the angle for walking is 90°, how many people walk

  1. Find the fraction of the full circle: 90360 = 14.
  2. Multiply the fraction by the total frequency: (14) × 120 = 30.

Answer: 30

Difficulty scale

The sheet generator offers five difficulty settings for this topic.

  1. Reading simple fractions directly from benchmark sectors (12, 14, 34)
  2. Calculating frequencies where angles are multiples of 30° or 45°
  3. Calculating angles from frequencies given a clean factor of 360
  4. Working backwards to determine total population from one sector value
  5. Comparing two pie charts representing different total sample sizes

Common mistakes

  • Assuming larger sector angles always represent greater absolute amounts when comparing two different charts
  • Confusing angle degrees (out of 360) with percentages (out of 100)

Curriculum links

Indicative matches to National Curriculum for England. Check wording and codes against the official document.

  • Construct and interpret pie charts, and calculate measures of central tendency and spread.

Sample sheet and answers

Six questions at the level's usual difficulty. Open the editor to change, add or regenerate any of them.

Pie Charts

Year 8 maths

Qs
6
Marks
24
NameDateScore / 24
1.
20 people were asked their favourite sport. 25 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]
2.
20 people were asked their favourite sport. 14 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]
3.
60 people were asked their favourite sport. 12 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]
4.
60 people were asked their favourite sport. 26 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]
5.
36 people were asked their favourite sport. 14 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]
6.
40 people were asked their favourite sport. 45 chose football. What angle on a pie chart shows football?
[4]

Answer key

  1. 144°Angle = fraction × 360°; 25 × 360 = 144°
  2. 90°Angle = fraction × 360°; 14 × 360 = 90°
  3. 180°Angle = fraction × 360°; 12 × 360 = 180°
  4. 120°Angle = fraction × 360°; 26 × 360 = 120°
  5. 90°Angle = fraction × 360°; 14 × 360 = 90°
  6. 288°Angle = fraction × 360°; 45 × 360 = 288°