Spreadsheet - continued

Skills and Terms - Spreadsheet Table Skills and Terms - Charts or Graphs

Grade Level Requirements

Examples and Exercises HELP Spreadsheet Fun

 

Charts or Graphs

A graph is a picture created from a set of numbers. Graphs can help you recognize relationships or patterns that may not be obvious in a simple list of numbers. Popular graph types include column, bar, line, and pie graphs. Graphs are frequently called "charts" in application programs such as Excel.

.

X-axis

 

 

 

and

 Y-axis

Many types of charts have an x-axis and a y-axis. Column

charts, bar charts, line graphs, and scatter graphs all have

axes. (The plural of axis is axes.) The x-axis goes across

horizontally.  "Mrs. Bradley has a funny way for us to

remember this. She crosses her arms in front of her and says, 'To use your arms to make an X you have to make a cross that goes across.' Then she opens her arms horizontally."

 The y-axis is vertical. You just have to remember it is up and down.

Parts of a graph Pie     -     Column     -     Line
How to make a graph click here
 

Chart Examples:

         

Chart Type

Chart Sub-type

Column (vertical) Cluster - Compares values across categories Stacked - Compares the contribution of each value to a total across categories 100% Stacked - Compares the percentage each value contributes to a total across categories
Bar Cluster - Compares values across categories Stacked - Compares the contribution of each value to a total across categories 100% Stacked - Compares the percentage each value contributes to a total across categories
Line Displays trend over time or categories (change over time) Stacked Line - Displays the trend of the contribution of each value over time or categories 100% Stacked Line - Displays the trend of the percentage each value contributes over time or categories.
Pie Displays the contribution of each value to a total Pie of Pie - pie with user defined data extracted and combined into a second pie Exploded Pie- Displays the contribution of each value to a total while emphasizing individual values

Additional Chart Types in Excel

XY (Scatter)
Compares pairs of values
Area
Displays the trend of values over time or categories
Doughnut
Like a pie chart, but can contain multiple series
Radar
Displays changes in values relative to a center point
3-D Surface
Shows trends in values across two dimensions in a continuous curve
Bubble
Compares sets of 3 values.  Like a scatter chart with the third value displayed as the size of the bubble marker
Stock
Requires 3, 4, or 5 series of values depending on your choice (Volume, Open, High, Low, Close)
Cylinder
Column or bar with a cylindrical shape
Cone
Column or bar with a cylindrical shape
Pyramid
Column or bar with a cylindrical shape
Skills and Terms - Spreadsheet Table Skills and Terms - Charts or Graphs

Grade Level Requirements

Examples and Exercises HELP Spreadsheet Fun

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Last updated August 6, 2002
kbradley@otsegoknights.org