Exploding slices in Matplotlib - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Exploding slices

📖 Scenario: You are preparing a pie chart to show the favorite fruits of a group of people. You want to highlight one fruit by pulling its slice out from the pie chart.

🎯 Goal: Create a pie chart with slices representing fruit counts. Then, explode the slice for the fruit with the highest count to make it stand out.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a dictionary called fruit_counts with exact entries for fruits and their counts

Create a list called explode to control which slice is exploded

Use matplotlib.pyplot.pie() with the explode parameter to create the pie chart

Print the explode list to show which slice is exploded

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Pie charts are used in reports and presentations to show parts of a whole. Exploding slices helps highlight important categories.

💼 Career

Data analysts and scientists often use pie charts to communicate data insights clearly and attractively.

1

Create the fruit counts dictionary

Create a dictionary called fruit_counts with these exact entries: 'Apple': 30, 'Banana': 15, 'Cherry': 45, 'Date': 10.

Matplotlib

# Create the fruit_counts dictionary with exact values
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces {} to create the dictionary with the exact fruit names and counts.

2

Create the explode list

Create a list called explode with four values, all set to 0 initially.

Matplotlib

fruit_counts = {'Apple': 30, 'Banana': 15, 'Cherry': 45, 'Date': 10}
# Create the explode list with four zeros
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Create a list with four zeros to match the number of fruits.

3

Set explode for the largest slice

Find the index of the fruit with the highest count in fruit_counts and set the corresponding value in explode to 0.1.

Matplotlib

fruit_counts = {'Apple': 30, 'Banana': 15, 'Cherry': 45, 'Date': 10}
explode = [0, 0, 0, 0]
# Find the index of the max count and set explode[index] = 0.1
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use max() to find the highest count and index() to find its position.

4

Create and display the pie chart

Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt. Use plt.pie() with fruit_counts.values() and explode=explode to create the pie chart. Use plt.show() to display it. Then print the explode list.

Matplotlib

fruit_counts = {'Apple': 30, 'Banana': 15, 'Cherry': 45, 'Date': 10}
explode = [0, 0, 0, 0]
max_index = list(fruit_counts.values()).index(max(fruit_counts.values()))
explode[max_index] = 0.1
# Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Create the pie chart with explode
# Show the plot
# Print the explode list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use plt.pie() with labels and explode. Then call plt.show() to display the chart.