Tally charts, step by step

Four uprights and a line struck through them.

The question
Our favorite sport
FootballSwimmingRunningCyclingTennis

How many fewer chose cycling than chose football?

Our favorite sport

key:1 = 1 vote
Football:10 drawn10 votes
Swimming:4 drawn4 votes
Running:2 drawn2 votes
Cycling:5 drawn5 votes
Tennis:9 drawn9 votes
Football:10 drawn10 votes
Swimming:4 drawn4 votes
Running:2 drawn2 votes
Cycling:5 drawn5 votes
Tennis:9 drawn9 votes
5 votes
  1. Read the marks before the question. Tallies bundle in FIVES — four upright and one diagonal across them — so a bundle plus two is 7, not 6 and not 12.
  2. So the counts read straight off: Football 10, Swimming 4, Running 2, Cycling 5, Tennis 9.
  3. Now the question, on the NUMBERS rather than the marks: Cycling is 10 − 5 = 5 fewer than Football. So the answer is 5 votes.

How it works.

  1. 01

    Read the marks before the question. Tallies bundle in FIVES — four upright and one diagonal across them — so a bundle plus two is 7, not 6 and not 12.

  2. 02

    So the counts read straight off: Football 10, Swimming 4, Running 2, Cycling 5, Tennis 9.

  3. 03

    Now the question, on the NUMBERS rather than the marks: Cycling is 10 − 5 = 5 fewer than Football. So the answer is 5 votes.