The Binning Illusion

A histogram has one setting nobody argues about: how wide the bars are. Here are 480 café visits — a quick-coffee crowd and a settle-in-with-a-laptop crowd. Drag the bin width and watch two real crowds melt into one tidy hump that was never in the data.

How long people stayed

n = 480 · 2 crowds by construction

 

Verdict

Two crowds, both visible

At this width the bars agree with the data.

Controls

2.4 min

Textbook rules pick for you

Three respected rules, three different answers. Each one guesses from the count and the spread alone — none of them ever looks for a second crowd.

Bins
—
Bin width
—minutes
Peaks in the bars
— 
Peaks in the data
—never changes