Cumulative Frequency Histogram Maker

See running totals at a glance. Create a cumulative frequency histogram with an ogive, then read off medians, quartiles and percentiles.

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Analyze your data

ClassFreq.RelativeCum.Cum. %
[40, 50)43.3%43.3%
[50, 60)1915.8%2319.2%
[60, 70)3226.7%5545.8%
[70, 80)3428.3%8974.2%
[80, 90)2218.3%11192.5%
[90, 100]97.5%120100%
Total120100%

Your data

120 numbers

Separate numbers with commas, spaces or new lines. Paste a column from Excel or Google Sheets, or drop an .xlsx / .csv file here.

Start from an example

What is a cumulative frequency histogram?

In a cumulative frequency histogram, each bar shows how many values are less than or equal to the upper boundary of its bin. Bars never go down: they climb from left to right until the last bar equals the total number of observations. The line through the top-right corner of each bar is called an ogive.

How to make a cumulative frequency histogram

  1. Paste or type your raw data, or import an Excel or CSV file.
  2. Set clean class intervals in the Bins tab, for example a bin width of 10 starting at 0.
  3. Keep Cumulative histogram switched on and choose Frequency, Relative or Percent for the y-axis.
  4. Leave the ogive on (Design tab) to read values between bins, then download or copy the cumulative table.

Cumulative frequency table example

ScoreFrequencyCumulative frequencyCumulative %
50–604410%
60–70101435%
70–80142870%
80–9083690%
90–100440100%

Reading the table: 14 students (35%) scored under 70, and 70% scored under 80. So the median score is somewhere in the 70–80 bin.

Reading percentiles from an ogive

  • Median: go across from 50% to the ogive, then down to the x-axis.
  • Quartiles: use 25% for Q1 and 75% for Q3. The gap between them is the interquartile range.
  • Any percentile: for the 90th percentile, start at 90%.
  • “How many are below x?” Go up from x to the ogive and across to the y-axis.

Prefer bars that show each bin on its own? Use the main histogram maker or the relative frequency histogram maker.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cumulative frequency histogram?

A cumulative frequency histogram shows a running total. Each bar's height is the number of values in that bin plus all the bins before it, so the bars rise from left to right and the last bar equals the total number of values.

What is an ogive?

An ogive (pronounced 'oh-jive') is a cumulative frequency polygon: a line joining the cumulative totals at the upper boundary of each bin, starting from zero at the lower boundary of the first bin. It is switched on here by default and can be toggled in the Design tab.

How do I find the median from a cumulative frequency graph?

Switch the y-axis to Percent, then find 50% on the y-axis, go across to the ogive and read the value straight down on the x-axis. Use 25% and 75% for the lower and upper quartiles. The exact values are also listed in the Statistics view under the chart.

Can I show cumulative percentages?

Yes. In the Bins tab choose 'Percent' (or 'Relative') with 'Cumulative histogram' switched on. The last bar then reaches 100%.

What is the difference between a frequency and a cumulative frequency histogram?

A frequency histogram shows how many values fall in each bin on its own. A cumulative histogram shows how many values fall in that bin or below, which makes it easy to answer questions like 'how many students scored under 70?'.

More histogram makers

Histogram MakerFrequency histograms with automatic or custom bins.Relative Frequency HistogramShow proportions or percentages instead of counts.Double Histogram MakerCompare two distributions on shared bins.