Excel 2010
Working with Charts
Charts
Video: Working with Charts in Excel 2010
Watch the video (4:31).Excel workbooks can contain a lot of data, and that data can often be difficult to interpret. For example, where are the highest and lowest values? Are the numbers increasing or decreasing?
The answers to questions like these can become much clearer when the data is represented as a chart. Excel has many different types of charts, so you can choose one that most effectively represents the data.
Types of charts
Click the arrows in the slideshow below to view examples of some of the types of charts available in Excel.
Excel has a variety of chart types, each with its own advantages. Click the arrows to see some of the different types of charts available in Excel.
Column charts use vertical bars to represent data. They can work with many different types of data, but they're most frequently used for comparing information.
Line charts are ideal for showing trends. The data points are connected with lines, making it easy to see whether values are increasing or decreasing over time.
Pie charts make it easy to compare proportions. Each value is shown as a slice of the pie, so it's easy to see which values make up the percentage of a whole.
Bar charts work just like Column charts, but they use horizontal bars instead of vertical bars.
Area charts are similar to line charts, except the areas under the lines are filled in.
Surface charts allow you to display data across a 3D landscape. They work best with large data sets, allowing you to see a variety of information at the same time.
Identifying the parts of a chart
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the different parts of a chart.
Horizontal Axis
The horizontal axis (also known as the x axis) is the horizontal part of the chart.
In this example, the horizontal axis identifies the categories in the chart, so it is also called the category axis. However, in a bar chart, the vertical axis would be the category axis.
Legend
The legend identifies which data series each color on the chart represents. For many charts it is crucial, but for some charts it may not be necessary and can be deleted.
In this example, the legend allows the viewer to identify the different book genres in the chart.
Data Series
The data series consists of the related data points in a chart. If there are multiple data series in the chart, each one will have a different color or style. Pie charts can only have one data series.
In this example, the green columns represent the Romance data series.
Title
The title should clearly describe what the chart is illustrating.
Vertical Axis
The vertical axis (also known as the y axis) is the vertical part of the chart.
In this example (a column chart), the vertical axis measures the height, or value of the columns, so it is also called the value axis. However, in a bar chart, the horizontal axis would be the value axis.
