---
title: "Introduction - Histogram and density plots"
canonical: "https://modelassist.epixanalytics.com/space/EA/26575467/Introduction%20-%20Histogram%20and%20density%20plots"
format: markdown
---
The **histogram**, or relative frequency, plot is the most commonly used in risk analysis. It is produced by grouping the data generated for a model's output into a number of bars or classes. The main advantage of a histogram plot is how easy it is to read the realistic range of the variable, its rough location, and any peaks.

The **density **plot is similar to the histogram, but a smoothing algorithm is used to create a curve, with an area under the curve standardized to 1, so it's useful when [overlaying multiple outputs](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575472).

  


These figures allow us to easily recognize common distributions such as the Normal and Uniform, and we can see whether a variable is skewed.

  


| Discrete | Continuous | Density |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ![image](media://8544df7b-671e-42e7-875d-43bd3b28dac3) | ![image](media://7f9358a7-8439-4f82-8a6e-cc841d0e5943) | ![image](media://1aed81f5-2aec-464b-98d8-b92c1b12852f) |

  


  


This section discusses the following:

  


[Difficulty of interpreting the vertical scale](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575468/)

[Effect of varying number of bars](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575469/)

[Smoothing a histogram plot](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575470/)

[Plotting a variable with discrete and continuous elements](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575471/)

[Overlaying histogram plots](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575472/)

[Showing probability ranges](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575473/)

[Relationship between cdf and density (histogram) plots](https://epixanalytics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EA/pages/26575474/)

  


  


  


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