2
$\begingroup$

What do you call a graph of value vs rank of the value?

For example, say I make a census of the 2010 net income for a bunch of people.

  • The graph of net income vs age gives me a: scatterplot
  • The graph of net income vs location (latitude, longitude) gives me a: height map
  • After sorting the net income values so the value in rank 1 is highest income, rank 2 is the next-highest, etc., then the graph of net income vs rank gives me a: ???

(This may be a question more about information graphics than about math -- is there some other site, perhaps Graphic Design, that is a better place for this kind of question than Math.StackExchange?)

My understanding is that Zipf's law often applies to such graphs. Ideally I'd like a name for all such graphs, whether or not Zipf's law applies to them. What do you call such a graph of value vs rank of the value?

  • 0
    You could maybe try [stats.SE](http://stats.stackexchange.com) if you don't get a good answer here.2012-07-03

1 Answers 1

2

I've seen them called simply "rank plots" or "rank–value plots" (or e.g. "rank–income plots", if income is what you're measuring). Apparently, the term "Zipf plot" is also sometimes used.