I suspect you are referring to a sample frequency distribution.
Providing that the sample size is sufficiently large there are various kinds of information that can be gleaned from one:
- the approximate range of values in the population
- the location of the population as measured by the value that appears most often in the frequency distribution-known as its mode
- the likely shape of the population's distribution, in particular whether it is symmetric or skewed
- obviously how values of the population variable are distributed
- whether there are any curious peaks or valleys, even when the sample size is large
- the amount of variation around the central value
