...
Single style – every record will be displayed in the same style.
Categories – styling of the records is based on value of one of this layer’s columns.
Ranges – records are styled based on the classification range they fall in (similar to categories but based on one of six statistical classifications for numeric values).
Click Classify button to set the Classification method and Number of classes.
On the screenshot below is an effect of using ranges to differentiate council wards by populationLondon Boroughs by area.
Proportions
On the screenshot below is an effect of using proportions to visualise population of council wardsvalue on the records from the set column.