15. Pie Charts & Donut Charts

Pie charts represent parts-of-a-whole percentage breakdowns. Adding an explode offset or center hole creates modern donut visualizations.

Mental Model Intuition

Slicing a circular pizza into wedges according to proportional appetite shares.

Percentage String Formatting (`autopct`)Formatting

`autopct='%1.1f%%'` formats slices with 1 decimal place followed by a percent sign.

`%1.0f%%` gives integer percentages (e.g. 55%), while `%1.2f%%` gives two decimal places (e.g. 55.24%).

plt.pie(values, autopct='%1.1f%%')

Exploding Slices (`explode`)Emphasis

`explode=[0.1, 0, 0]` offsets the first wedge outward radially from the center circle.

Use explode to draw immediate viewer attention to the most important category or market leader.

plt.pie(values, explode=[0.1, 0, 0])

Avoid the top errors and bad plotting practices that trip up new Python developers

Troubleshooting

Topic 15 • Python IDE

Python 3.12 • Matplotlib

Presets:

Ctrl + Enter to run

Run Python code to inspect terminal output.

Switch from abstract numbers to relatable Cricket, Cinema & Business charts

5 Curated Datasets

+50 XP

Write Matplotlib code to solve the objective and see your live plot render

Objective Instructions:

Create a pie chart for `shares=[60, 25, 15]` with `labels=['Cat A', 'Cat B', 'Cat C']` and `autopct='%1.0f%%'`.

Required Keywords:✓ plt.pie✓ autopct

Challenge Code Editor

Challenge Output GraphLive Vector Preview

Write code on the left to render live challenge plot

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