A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

     A picture is worth a thousand words.  What is the meaning behind this phrase?  The meaning is instead of telling a story through a book or a speech a picture tells it all.  This phrase started in the USA in the early part of the 20th century.  This was attributed to Frederick Barnard, who published the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title "one look is worth a thousand words"  This phrase source came from the oriental Chinese proverb "One picture is worth then thousand words."  

   Why is a picture so effective in getting the point across?  When a person see's a picture they then can visualize the result.  Say someone is doing a study on how many houses were sold in a particular area over a ten year margin.  A person would draw up a chart showing the results in a ten year period.  People would see quickly what year did the best and what tear declined the most.

  A picture shows results instantly versus a long drawn out story that might put a person to sleep.  Like for instance if a person is teaching a algebra class.  Instead of just talking to the class on how to solve a problem he would show examples on the black board with a chart or drawing to help solve the problem.  We as students can visualize the result and then be able to work the problem our rather than just listen to the teacher talk all day.  They use a lot of billboard to get a persons attention so they can see a particular item, one that comes into mind is advertisements for a wrinkle face cream.   They show a face that is all wrinkly and ugly and then show a face that is beautiful when a person uses their product.  This is an example of a picture is worth a thousand words.

  So in a long story short a person would use a picture to tell a story.  Where they can visualize and understand the concept of the picture and shows from beginning to end, were it to be a product or a algebra problem.  Visualizing is the key in the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meaning/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words.html