Microsoft Excel Charts

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Microsoft Excel Charts

• Objectives
• Using the Excel chart features
• Selecting an Appropriate chart type
• Creating a Chart
• Editing a Chart

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Charts

• Why are charts useful?
• Visual presentation of differences, similarities,
  general trends in data
• Easier to view and interpret at a glance
• Chart layout - terminology
• Types of charts
• Deciding which type of chart is appropriate for
  the problem at hand

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Chart Title
Plot Area
Legend
Y Axis
X Axis
Category-Axis Title
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Selecting an Appropriate Chart

• Not all types of charts are appropriate for all
  data presentation needs
• Line/Area Charts show changes or trends - Data
  points are plotted at equal intervals
• Example how the outside temperature changed over
  a 15 hour period. Temperature is not a function
  of the time of day - it varies based on the
  meteorological variables.

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A line chart shows a trend with each point
plotted at equal intervals
Notice how the distance on the x axis from 8-9am
is the same as from 9-11am
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Selecting an Appropriate Chart

• XY Charts show a functional relationship between
  two or more variables.
• Data points are plotted at Scaled intervals -
• Example Yearly Income on your investment at
  different percentage interest rates.

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An XY chart plots two sets of data at scaled
intervals
Notice how the data points are not distributed
evenly but along a scaled x axis of interest rate
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Selecting an Appropriate Chart

• Bar/Column Charts show and compare discrete
  objects
• Example Cost components of food items for various
  size groups at a picnic
• meat, buns, corn relish are discreet items
• can stack these charts to add another dimension
  of data such as costs for each item by group size
  - small, medium and large groups

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Selecting an Appropriate Chart

• Pie Charts display parts that make up a whole
• Example Percentage cost component of each
  food item of a meal for a given group size.
• Use when its you a emphasizing the portion of a
  whole rather than how much the whole equals.
  So we want to know what item is the largest cost
  component rather than how much that component
  cost.

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Creating a Chart - Walkthrough

• Select data range
• continuous and contiguous data
• Click on Insert Ribbon and choose chart type
• Select chart headings, axis, labels etc from
  Layout Ribbon
• Modify chart formatting from the Format Ribbon

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Editing a Chart Walkthrough

• Double click on the chart to select it - use
  context sensitive ribbons to select features

Design Ribbon
Layout Ribbon
Format Ribbon