Tally Marks
Tally Marks are used to keep a track of numbers in the quickest possible way. Tally marks are used for counting and are represented as a set of five lines in which there are four vertical lines (one vertical line is made for each of the first four numbers) and the fifth number is represented by a diagonal line across the previous four numbers.
| 1. | What are Tally Marks? |
| 2. | Counting Tally Marks |
| 3. | Tally Marks Chart |
| 4. | FAQs on Tally Marks |
What are Tally Marks?
Tally marks are used for counting and are a part of the unary numeral system. They are also known as hash marks and they are used throughout the world for a visual representation of grouped observations. Tally marks are mostly used to keep the record of a running count. These marks are generally used for counting scores, points, number of people, etc. It is a method of collecting data that can be arranged in a tabular form. A tally mark is represented with the symbol " | ". Thus, tally marks make counting easier.
Counting Tally Marks
The count of one is represented by the symbol '|' tally mark, 2 is represented by '| |' tally marks, 3 is represented by '| | |' tally marks, 4 is denoted by '| | | |' tally marks. Tally marks are clustered in groups of five for readability. So for the first four counts, we draw an individual line for each, and for the fifth count, the line goes across the previous four lines. For the sixth count, we will continue drawing individual lines again.
Look at the given image and observe how tally marks are represented.
Tally Marks Chart
When the data is represented in a table form with tally marks, that table is known as a tally mark chart. A tally mark chart helps to give a clear view of data. Tally marks on the chart are the easiest way of keeping track of numbers in groups of five. Let's understand the tally mark chart with help of an example.
For example, the chart given below is made by a pizza seller which shows one column of "day" and the other column of "pizzas sold on each day". The seller marked the number of pizzas sold on each day with tally marks instead of counting. Tally marks are marked in the pizzas sold column. Let's find out pizzas sold on Monday and Friday.
It can be seen that in front of Monday there is one group (a set of five lines) of tally marks with three more lines of tally marks, therefore, the number of pizzas sold on Monday is 5 + 3 =8.
Similarly, in front of Friday, there are 2 groups of tally marks, and each group is a set of 5 lines. So the number of pizzas sold on Friday is 5 + 5 = 10.
Uses of Tally Marks
Tally marks are used to find the frequency of a set of data values with ungrouped raw data. Since manually making and counting the observations or class intervals of every raw data and cross-checking all the data is time-consuming. Hence, to reduce the manual work, tally marks is used. The raw data needs to be changed and shown in the form of tally marks. Each frequency number is identified in the form of tally marks and finally added to obtain the frequency table. Let us look at an example to understand this better.
Example: Let’s consider the marks of 30 students in standard X in a particular school. The scores are as follows:
68, 73, 84, 61, 76, 73, 60, 61, 84, 82, 68, 76, 76, 84, 90, 88, 78, 60, 76, 64, 74, 63, 65, 81, 90, 92, 85, 77, 88, 90
The maximum mark allotted to the paper is 100. Draw a tally chart for the above data.
Solution: Rearranged data in ascending order:
| Scores | Tally Marks | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | II | 2 |
| 61 | II | 2 |
| 63 | I | 1 |
| 64 | I | 1 |
| 65 | I | 1 |
| 68 | II | 2 |
| 73 | II | 2 |
| 74 | I | 1 |
| 76 | IIII | 4 |
| 77 | I | 1 |
| 78 | I | 1 |
| 81 | I | 1 |
| 82 | I | 1 |
| 84 | III | 3 |
| 85 | I | 1 |
| 88 | II | 2 |
| 90 | III | 3 |
| 92 | I | 1 |
| Total | 30 |
From the above table, we can see how the tally marks can make it simple to derive the frequency of raw data.
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Check out these interesting articles to know more about tally marks and their related topics.
Tally Marks Examples
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Example 1: Following is the list of chocolates of 30 students of grade V.
Musketeers, Snickers, Musketeers, Twix, Musketeers, Hershey’s, Twix, Musketeers, Snickers, Hershey’s, Musketeers, Twix, Twix, Hershey’s, Musketeers, Hershey’s, Twix, Musketeers, Hershey’s, Musketeers, Musketeers, Snickers, Hershey’s, Hershey’s, Twix, Hershey’s, Musketeers, Hershey’s, Twix, Musketeers.
(A) Arrange the names of chocolates in a table using tally marks.
(B) Which chocolates are preferred by most of the students?
Solution: (A) By observing the choices of chocolates of 30 students, we can construct the table as below.
(B) Musketeers is the most preferred chocolate as 11 students prefer Musketeers. -
Example 2: The customers who come to a clothing store are marked as a man (M) and woman (W). The following is the list of the customers who visit during the first two hours in the morning.
W W M M W W M M W W M M W W M M W W M M. Represent the data in tally marks form.
Solution: By observing the shoppers, we can construct the table as below.
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Example 3: Jackson observes the different colored toys in the shopping mall. The following are the results noted by him.
Red, Black, Green, Red, White, Blue, Green, Red, Blue, White. Make a tally of Jackson's results. Arrange the data in tally marks form and find out how many blue toys did he see?
Solution: By observing colors, we can construct the table as below. The number of blue toys is 2
FAQs on Tally Marks
What is Tally Marks in Statistics?
Tally marks are used for counting and are a part of the unary numeral system. They are used to collect and arrange data in a tabular form. A tally mark is represented with the symbol " | ". They are represented as a set of five lines in which there are four vertical lines (one vertical line is made for each of the first four numbers) and the fifth number is represented by a diagonal line across the previous four numbers.
How is Tally Marks Calculated?
Tally marks are calculated and expressed by vertical lines. The count of one is represented by the symbol '|' tally mark, 2 is represented by '| |' tally marks, 3 is represented by '| | |' tally marks, 4 is denoted by '| | | |' tally marks. They are clustered in groups of five for readability. So for the first four counts, we draw an individual line for each, and for the fifth count, the line goes across the previous four lines. For the sixth count, we will continue drawing individual lines again.
How do you Write 5 in Tally Marks?
In tally marks, the number 5 is written with four vertical lines and a fifth line across the previous four lines. It is also considered as one group in tally marks. For example, using the tally marks, if we want to note that we have 5 chocolates with us, we will just write four straight lines and one slanting line across the four lines to represent the 5 chocolates.
How do you Write 3 in Tally Marks?
The symbol of the tally mark is " | ". The tally mark for number 1 is represented as " | ". The tally mark for the number 2 is represented as " | | ". The tally mark for the number 3 is represented as " | | | ". For example, if we have 3 mobile phones, in order to store it in the tally chart, we will just write " | | | " to denote the number of mobile phones and store our data.
How are Tally Marks Useful?
Tally marks are generally used to maintain the record of a running count. These marks are quite useful in keeping the record of data in the group (set of five lines) like to maintain the record of scores in a game.
What do Tally Marks Look Like?
Tally marks are represented in the form of standing lines that look like the lowercase letter 'l'. It is a method of collecting data and the data can be arranged in a tabular form using tally marks. Tally marks look like a tabular representation with vertical and slanting lines arranged in order to store our data.
What is a Tally Marks Chart?
A tally marks chart is used to represent the data in a table. It helps to give a clear picture of data along with tally marks. We can easily count the observations with help of a tally mark chart.