NCERT Textbook: Data Handling and Presentation | Mathematics (Maths) Class 6 PDF Download

 Page 1


If you ask your classmates about their favourite colours, you will 
get a list of colours. This list is an example of data. Similarly, if you 
measure the weight of each student in your class, you would get a 
collection of measures of weight—again data. 
 Any collection of facts, numbers, measures, observations, or other 
descriptions of things that convey information about those things is 
called data.
 We live in an age of information. We constantly see large amounts 
of data presented to us in new and interesting ways. In this chapter, 
we will explore some of the ways that data is presented, and how we 
can use some of those ways to correctly display, interpret and make 
inferences from such data!
4.1 Collecting and Organising Data
Navya and Naresh are discussing their favourite games.
Cricket is my 
favourite game! 
I play cricket sometimes 
but hockey is the game I 
like the most. 
I think cricket is the 
most popular game in 
our class.
I am not sure. How can we find 
the most popular game in our 
class?
Data Han Dling an D 
Presentation
4
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   74 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Page 2


If you ask your classmates about their favourite colours, you will 
get a list of colours. This list is an example of data. Similarly, if you 
measure the weight of each student in your class, you would get a 
collection of measures of weight—again data. 
 Any collection of facts, numbers, measures, observations, or other 
descriptions of things that convey information about those things is 
called data.
 We live in an age of information. We constantly see large amounts 
of data presented to us in new and interesting ways. In this chapter, 
we will explore some of the ways that data is presented, and how we 
can use some of those ways to correctly display, interpret and make 
inferences from such data!
4.1 Collecting and Organising Data
Navya and Naresh are discussing their favourite games.
Cricket is my 
favourite game! 
I play cricket sometimes 
but hockey is the game I 
like the most. 
I think cricket is the 
most popular game in 
our class.
I am not sure. How can we find 
the most popular game in our 
class?
Data Han Dling an D 
Presentation
4
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   74 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
75
To figure out the most popular game in 
their class, what should Navya and Naresh 
do? Can you help them?
 Naresh and Navya decided to go to each student in the class and 
ask what their favourite game is. Then they prepared a list.
 Navya is showing the list:
 She says (happily) , “I have collected the data. I can figure out the 
most popular game now!”
 A few other children are looking at the list and wondering, “We 
can’t yet see the most popular game. How can we get it from this list?”
 Figure it Out
1.  What would you do to find the most popular game among Naresh’s 
and Navya’s classmates?
2. What is the most popular game in their class?
3.   Try to find out the most popular game among your classmates.
4.   Pari wants to respond to the questions given below. Put a tick ( ?) 
for the questions where she needs to carry out data collection and 
Mehnoor – Kabaddi Pushkal – Satoliya (Pittu) Anaya – Kabaddi 
Jubimon – Hockey Densy – Badminton Jivisha – Satoliya  (Pittu) 
Simran – Kabaddi Jivika – Satoliya  (Pittu) Rajesh – Football 
Nand – Satoliya  (Pittu) Leela – Hockey Thara – Football 
Ankita – Kabaddi Afshan – Hockey Soumya – Cricket 
Imon – Hockey Keerat – Cricket Navjot – Hockey 
Yuvraj – Cricket Gurpreet – Hockey Hemal – Satoliya  (Pittu)
Rehana – Hockey Arsh – Kabaddi Debabrata – Football 
Aarna – Badminton Bhavya – Cricket Ananya – Hockey 
Kompal – Football Sarah – Kabaddi Hardik – Cricket 
Tahira – Cricket
75
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   75 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Page 3


If you ask your classmates about their favourite colours, you will 
get a list of colours. This list is an example of data. Similarly, if you 
measure the weight of each student in your class, you would get a 
collection of measures of weight—again data. 
 Any collection of facts, numbers, measures, observations, or other 
descriptions of things that convey information about those things is 
called data.
 We live in an age of information. We constantly see large amounts 
of data presented to us in new and interesting ways. In this chapter, 
we will explore some of the ways that data is presented, and how we 
can use some of those ways to correctly display, interpret and make 
inferences from such data!
4.1 Collecting and Organising Data
Navya and Naresh are discussing their favourite games.
Cricket is my 
favourite game! 
I play cricket sometimes 
but hockey is the game I 
like the most. 
I think cricket is the 
most popular game in 
our class.
I am not sure. How can we find 
the most popular game in our 
class?
Data Han Dling an D 
Presentation
4
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   74 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
75
To figure out the most popular game in 
their class, what should Navya and Naresh 
do? Can you help them?
 Naresh and Navya decided to go to each student in the class and 
ask what their favourite game is. Then they prepared a list.
 Navya is showing the list:
 She says (happily) , “I have collected the data. I can figure out the 
most popular game now!”
 A few other children are looking at the list and wondering, “We 
can’t yet see the most popular game. How can we get it from this list?”
 Figure it Out
1.  What would you do to find the most popular game among Naresh’s 
and Navya’s classmates?
2. What is the most popular game in their class?
3.   Try to find out the most popular game among your classmates.
4.   Pari wants to respond to the questions given below. Put a tick ( ?) 
for the questions where she needs to carry out data collection and 
Mehnoor – Kabaddi Pushkal – Satoliya (Pittu) Anaya – Kabaddi 
Jubimon – Hockey Densy – Badminton Jivisha – Satoliya  (Pittu) 
Simran – Kabaddi Jivika – Satoliya  (Pittu) Rajesh – Football 
Nand – Satoliya  (Pittu) Leela – Hockey Thara – Football 
Ankita – Kabaddi Afshan – Hockey Soumya – Cricket 
Imon – Hockey Keerat – Cricket Navjot – Hockey 
Yuvraj – Cricket Gurpreet – Hockey Hemal – Satoliya  (Pittu)
Rehana – Hockey Arsh – Kabaddi Debabrata – Football 
Aarna – Badminton Bhavya – Cricket Ananya – Hockey 
Kompal – Football Sarah – Kabaddi Hardik – Cricket 
Tahira – Cricket
75
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   75 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Ganita Prakash | Grade 6 
76
put a cross ( ?) for the questions where she doesn’t need to collect 
data. Discuss your answers in the classroom.
a. What is the most popular TV show among her classmates?  
b. When did India get independence?  
c.   How much water is getting wasted in her locality?  
d. What is the capital of India?  
 Shri Nilesh is a teacher. He decided to bring sweets to the class 
to celebrate the new year. The sweets shop nearby has  jalebi, gulab 
jamun, gujiya, barfi, and rasgulla. He wanted to know the choices 
of the children. He wrote the names of the sweets on the board and 
asked each child to tell him their preference. He put a tally mark 
‘|’ for each student and when the count reached 5, he put a line 
through the previous four and marked it as ||||.
Sweets Tally Marks No. of Students
 Jalebi
| ||||
6
Gulab Jamun
|||| ||||
9
Gujiya
||| |||| ||||
____________
Barfi 
|||
____________
Rasgulla
|| ||||
____________
 Figure it Out
  1.  Complete the table to help Shri Nilesh to purchase the correct 
numbers of sweets:
 • How many students chose jalebi? 
 • Barfi was chosen by  students?
 • How many students chose gujiya?  
 •
Rasgulla was chosen by  students?
 •
How many students chose gulab jamun? 
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   76 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Page 4


If you ask your classmates about their favourite colours, you will 
get a list of colours. This list is an example of data. Similarly, if you 
measure the weight of each student in your class, you would get a 
collection of measures of weight—again data. 
 Any collection of facts, numbers, measures, observations, or other 
descriptions of things that convey information about those things is 
called data.
 We live in an age of information. We constantly see large amounts 
of data presented to us in new and interesting ways. In this chapter, 
we will explore some of the ways that data is presented, and how we 
can use some of those ways to correctly display, interpret and make 
inferences from such data!
4.1 Collecting and Organising Data
Navya and Naresh are discussing their favourite games.
Cricket is my 
favourite game! 
I play cricket sometimes 
but hockey is the game I 
like the most. 
I think cricket is the 
most popular game in 
our class.
I am not sure. How can we find 
the most popular game in our 
class?
Data Han Dling an D 
Presentation
4
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   74 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
75
To figure out the most popular game in 
their class, what should Navya and Naresh 
do? Can you help them?
 Naresh and Navya decided to go to each student in the class and 
ask what their favourite game is. Then they prepared a list.
 Navya is showing the list:
 She says (happily) , “I have collected the data. I can figure out the 
most popular game now!”
 A few other children are looking at the list and wondering, “We 
can’t yet see the most popular game. How can we get it from this list?”
 Figure it Out
1.  What would you do to find the most popular game among Naresh’s 
and Navya’s classmates?
2. What is the most popular game in their class?
3.   Try to find out the most popular game among your classmates.
4.   Pari wants to respond to the questions given below. Put a tick ( ?) 
for the questions where she needs to carry out data collection and 
Mehnoor – Kabaddi Pushkal – Satoliya (Pittu) Anaya – Kabaddi 
Jubimon – Hockey Densy – Badminton Jivisha – Satoliya  (Pittu) 
Simran – Kabaddi Jivika – Satoliya  (Pittu) Rajesh – Football 
Nand – Satoliya  (Pittu) Leela – Hockey Thara – Football 
Ankita – Kabaddi Afshan – Hockey Soumya – Cricket 
Imon – Hockey Keerat – Cricket Navjot – Hockey 
Yuvraj – Cricket Gurpreet – Hockey Hemal – Satoliya  (Pittu)
Rehana – Hockey Arsh – Kabaddi Debabrata – Football 
Aarna – Badminton Bhavya – Cricket Ananya – Hockey 
Kompal – Football Sarah – Kabaddi Hardik – Cricket 
Tahira – Cricket
75
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   75 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Ganita Prakash | Grade 6 
76
put a cross ( ?) for the questions where she doesn’t need to collect 
data. Discuss your answers in the classroom.
a. What is the most popular TV show among her classmates?  
b. When did India get independence?  
c.   How much water is getting wasted in her locality?  
d. What is the capital of India?  
 Shri Nilesh is a teacher. He decided to bring sweets to the class 
to celebrate the new year. The sweets shop nearby has  jalebi, gulab 
jamun, gujiya, barfi, and rasgulla. He wanted to know the choices 
of the children. He wrote the names of the sweets on the board and 
asked each child to tell him their preference. He put a tally mark 
‘|’ for each student and when the count reached 5, he put a line 
through the previous four and marked it as ||||.
Sweets Tally Marks No. of Students
 Jalebi
| ||||
6
Gulab Jamun
|||| ||||
9
Gujiya
||| |||| ||||
____________
Barfi 
|||
____________
Rasgulla
|| ||||
____________
 Figure it Out
  1.  Complete the table to help Shri Nilesh to purchase the correct 
numbers of sweets:
 • How many students chose jalebi? 
 • Barfi was chosen by  students?
 • How many students chose gujiya?  
 •
Rasgulla was chosen by  students?
 •
How many students chose gulab jamun? 
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   76 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
77
 Shri Nilesh requested one of the staff members to bring the sweets as 
given in the table. The above table helped him to purchase the correct 
numbers of sweets.
  2.  Is the above table sufficient to distribute each type of sweet to 
the correct student? Explain. If it is not sufficient, what is the 
alternative?
To organise the data, we can write the name of each sweet in one 
column and using tally signs, note the number of students who prefer 
that sweet. The numbers 6, 9, … are the frequencies of the sweet 
preferences for jalebi, gulab jamun … respectively.
 Sushri Sandhya asked her students about the sizes of the shoes 
they wear. She noted the data on the board — 
4 5 3 4 3 4 5 5 4
5 5 4 5 6 4 3 5 6
4 6 4 5 7 5 6 4 5
 She then arranged the shoe sizes of the students in ascending order — 
 3,  3,  3,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  6,  6,  6,  6,  7
 Figure it Out
   1. Help her to figure out the following –
 •
 The largest shoe size in the class is _________
 • The smallest shoe size in the class is _________
 •
There are _________ students who wear shoe size 5. 
 • There are _________ students who wear shoe sizes larger 
than 4. 
  2.   How did arranging the data in ascending order help to 
answer these questions?
  3.  Are there other ways to arrange the data?
Math 
Talk
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   77 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Page 5


If you ask your classmates about their favourite colours, you will 
get a list of colours. This list is an example of data. Similarly, if you 
measure the weight of each student in your class, you would get a 
collection of measures of weight—again data. 
 Any collection of facts, numbers, measures, observations, or other 
descriptions of things that convey information about those things is 
called data.
 We live in an age of information. We constantly see large amounts 
of data presented to us in new and interesting ways. In this chapter, 
we will explore some of the ways that data is presented, and how we 
can use some of those ways to correctly display, interpret and make 
inferences from such data!
4.1 Collecting and Organising Data
Navya and Naresh are discussing their favourite games.
Cricket is my 
favourite game! 
I play cricket sometimes 
but hockey is the game I 
like the most. 
I think cricket is the 
most popular game in 
our class.
I am not sure. How can we find 
the most popular game in our 
class?
Data Han Dling an D 
Presentation
4
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   74 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
75
To figure out the most popular game in 
their class, what should Navya and Naresh 
do? Can you help them?
 Naresh and Navya decided to go to each student in the class and 
ask what their favourite game is. Then they prepared a list.
 Navya is showing the list:
 She says (happily) , “I have collected the data. I can figure out the 
most popular game now!”
 A few other children are looking at the list and wondering, “We 
can’t yet see the most popular game. How can we get it from this list?”
 Figure it Out
1.  What would you do to find the most popular game among Naresh’s 
and Navya’s classmates?
2. What is the most popular game in their class?
3.   Try to find out the most popular game among your classmates.
4.   Pari wants to respond to the questions given below. Put a tick ( ?) 
for the questions where she needs to carry out data collection and 
Mehnoor – Kabaddi Pushkal – Satoliya (Pittu) Anaya – Kabaddi 
Jubimon – Hockey Densy – Badminton Jivisha – Satoliya  (Pittu) 
Simran – Kabaddi Jivika – Satoliya  (Pittu) Rajesh – Football 
Nand – Satoliya  (Pittu) Leela – Hockey Thara – Football 
Ankita – Kabaddi Afshan – Hockey Soumya – Cricket 
Imon – Hockey Keerat – Cricket Navjot – Hockey 
Yuvraj – Cricket Gurpreet – Hockey Hemal – Satoliya  (Pittu)
Rehana – Hockey Arsh – Kabaddi Debabrata – Football 
Aarna – Badminton Bhavya – Cricket Ananya – Hockey 
Kompal – Football Sarah – Kabaddi Hardik – Cricket 
Tahira – Cricket
75
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   75 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Ganita Prakash | Grade 6 
76
put a cross ( ?) for the questions where she doesn’t need to collect 
data. Discuss your answers in the classroom.
a. What is the most popular TV show among her classmates?  
b. When did India get independence?  
c.   How much water is getting wasted in her locality?  
d. What is the capital of India?  
 Shri Nilesh is a teacher. He decided to bring sweets to the class 
to celebrate the new year. The sweets shop nearby has  jalebi, gulab 
jamun, gujiya, barfi, and rasgulla. He wanted to know the choices 
of the children. He wrote the names of the sweets on the board and 
asked each child to tell him their preference. He put a tally mark 
‘|’ for each student and when the count reached 5, he put a line 
through the previous four and marked it as ||||.
Sweets Tally Marks No. of Students
 Jalebi
| ||||
6
Gulab Jamun
|||| ||||
9
Gujiya
||| |||| ||||
____________
Barfi 
|||
____________
Rasgulla
|| ||||
____________
 Figure it Out
  1.  Complete the table to help Shri Nilesh to purchase the correct 
numbers of sweets:
 • How many students chose jalebi? 
 • Barfi was chosen by  students?
 • How many students chose gujiya?  
 •
Rasgulla was chosen by  students?
 •
How many students chose gulab jamun? 
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   76 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Data Handling and Presentation
77
 Shri Nilesh requested one of the staff members to bring the sweets as 
given in the table. The above table helped him to purchase the correct 
numbers of sweets.
  2.  Is the above table sufficient to distribute each type of sweet to 
the correct student? Explain. If it is not sufficient, what is the 
alternative?
To organise the data, we can write the name of each sweet in one 
column and using tally signs, note the number of students who prefer 
that sweet. The numbers 6, 9, … are the frequencies of the sweet 
preferences for jalebi, gulab jamun … respectively.
 Sushri Sandhya asked her students about the sizes of the shoes 
they wear. She noted the data on the board — 
4 5 3 4 3 4 5 5 4
5 5 4 5 6 4 3 5 6
4 6 4 5 7 5 6 4 5
 She then arranged the shoe sizes of the students in ascending order — 
 3,  3,  3,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  6,  6,  6,  6,  7
 Figure it Out
   1. Help her to figure out the following –
 •
 The largest shoe size in the class is _________
 • The smallest shoe size in the class is _________
 •
There are _________ students who wear shoe size 5. 
 • There are _________ students who wear shoe sizes larger 
than 4. 
  2.   How did arranging the data in ascending order help to 
answer these questions?
  3.  Are there other ways to arrange the data?
Math 
Talk
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   77 09-08-2024   16:41:11
Ganita Prakash | Grade 6 
78
 4.  Write the names of a few trees you see around you. When you 
observe a tree on the way from your home to school (or while 
walking from one place to another place), record the data and fill 
in the following table —
Tree No. of Trees
Peepal
Neem
…
….
a. Which tree was found in the greatest number? 
b. Which tree was found in the smallest number?
c.  Were there any two trees found in the same numbers? 
 5.  Take a blank piece of paper and paste any small news item from 
a newspaper. Each student may use a different article. Now, 
prepare a table on the piece of paper as given below. Count the 
number of each of the letters ‘c’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘r’, and ‘x’ in the words of 
the news article, and fill in the table. 
Letter c e i r x
Any other letter 
of your choice:
Number of times 
found in the news item
a. The letter found the most number of times is  ________
b. The letter found the least number of times is  ________
c. List the five letters ‘c’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘r’, ‘x’ in ascending order of 
frequency.  Now, compare the order of your list with that of 
your classmates. Is your order the same or nearly the same 
as theirs? (Almost everyone is likely to get the order ‘x, c, r, 
i, e’.) Why do you think this is the case?  
Chapter 4_Data Handling and Presentation.indd   78 09-08-2024   16:41:11