Charting scientific data - Excel 2003
in [Charts]
|
Prev: Excel Chart
Next: how to creat dashboard
From: Alex on 16 Apr 2010 20:27 Every once in a while I need to plot some spectral data. Because it's not very often and it's just simple plots, I can't justify to my boss the purchase of fancy and expensive plotting software programs (SigmaPlot, Origin, etc.). However, I can't figure out how to one thing in Excel: I have data with x being time and y being some value. Also, there are many points with y=0. I want to plot an xy scatter graph with a smoothed line connecting the points. However, because most points are at y=0, most of the plot is hidden by the x axis. Problem is solved if I set the y minimum at, say, -2 but then the axis numbering starts at -2 instead of 0. How can I set the minimum at -2 but have the numbering begin at 0?
From: Bernard Liengme on 16 Apr 2010 21:13 I am not sure I totally understand the problem but here is a suggestion Suppose the data looks like the first two columns here x y y' 1 0 2 2 3 5 In the third column I have the formula =b2+2 Then I select all the a column; hold down CTRL, select all the C column, and make the chart from these two columns best wishes -- Bernard Liengme Microsoft Excel MVP http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme "Alex" <Alex(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E2017568-FE01-434A-8945-BB3D8A4635E4(a)microsoft.com... > Every once in a while I need to plot some spectral data. Because it's not > very often and it's just simple plots, I can't justify to my boss the > purchase of fancy and expensive plotting software programs (SigmaPlot, > Origin, etc.). However, I can't figure out how to one thing in Excel: > > I have data with x being time and y being some value. Also, there are many > points with y=0. I want to plot an xy scatter graph with a smoothed line > connecting the points. However, because most points are at y=0, most of > the > plot is hidden by the x axis. Problem is solved if I set the y minimum at, > say, -2 but then the axis numbering starts at -2 instead of 0. How can I > set > the minimum at -2 but have the numbering begin at 0?
From: PBezucha on 17 Apr 2010 04:52 Some ideas: There is nothing simpler than using connecting line thicker then the border lines of plot area; you can distinct also by means of different colors. There can be problems with connecting line disappearing under zero borders, if you select continuous line mode, but this phenomenon somehow distorts the overall image anymore. If label -2 in your proposal is offending you, you can deck it with an empty (white) textbox. Visualization of spectra serves usually only for obtaining a rough overview; absolute values don't matter. So you can omit y-scale labeling at all. The baseline at y=0 will be either self marked by plenty of zero values, as you unwittingly notice, or you can draw a new y=0 line and mark it by a textbox '0'. -- Petr Bezucha "Alex" wrote: > Every once in a while I need to plot some spectral data. Because it's not > very often and it's just simple plots, I can't justify to my boss the > purchase of fancy and expensive plotting software programs (SigmaPlot, > Origin, etc.). However, I can't figure out how to one thing in Excel: > > I have data with x being time and y being some value. Also, there are many > points with y=0. I want to plot an xy scatter graph with a smoothed line > connecting the points. However, because most points are at y=0, most of the > plot is hidden by the x axis. Problem is solved if I set the y minimum at, > say, -2 but then the axis numbering starts at -2 instead of 0. How can I set > the minimum at -2 but have the numbering begin at 0?
From: Alex on 17 Apr 2010 11:52 Thank you for the reply. It's not necessarily the -2 that's offending me, it's the fact that the scale starts *counting* at -2. So we have something that goes -2, 3, 8, 13... etc instead of 0, 5, 10, 15. Yes, I could have it start at -5, but that gap is much large to look "nice". I was hoping that there was a way (VBA?) to have excel start counting at 0. Guess not. No worries, like you write, it's not really a big deal. Alex "PBezucha" wrote: > Some ideas: > > There is nothing simpler than using connecting line thicker then the border > lines of plot area; you can distinct also by means of different colors. There > can be problems with connecting line disappearing under zero borders, if you > select continuous line mode, but this phenomenon somehow distorts the overall > image anymore. > > If label -2 in your proposal is offending you, you can deck it with an empty > (white) textbox. > > Visualization of spectra serves usually only for obtaining a rough overview; > absolute values don't matter. So you can omit y-scale labeling at all. The > baseline at y=0 will be either self marked by plenty of zero values, as you > unwittingly notice, or you can draw a new y=0 line and mark it by a textbox > '0'. > > -- > Petr Bezucha > > > "Alex" wrote: > > > Every once in a while I need to plot some spectral data. Because it's not > > very often and it's just simple plots, I can't justify to my boss the > > purchase of fancy and expensive plotting software programs (SigmaPlot, > > Origin, etc.). However, I can't figure out how to one thing in Excel: > > > > I have data with x being time and y being some value. Also, there are many > > points with y=0. I want to plot an xy scatter graph with a smoothed line > > connecting the points. However, because most points are at y=0, most of the > > plot is hidden by the x axis. Problem is solved if I set the y minimum at, > > say, -2 but then the axis numbering starts at -2 instead of 0. How can I set > > the minimum at -2 but have the numbering begin at 0?
From: PBezucha on 17 Apr 2010 17:06
Alex, If you have brought out such a neat example… you can even cut such a gap. Scale y-axis between -1 and 15 with major unit 1, and deck "offending" labels -1, 2..4, … with patches (rectangles from Drawing). The only thing you could now miss are horizontal gridlines. Anyway, many technical journals recommend avoiding them, and the zero (and possible some other) line can be resolved with a drawn line as I have written. All these operations has to be done manually, and you cannot change any chart element. Certainly Excel is not much scientific (except for human sciences) language, though its potential is sometimes a surprise. -- Petr Bezucha "Alex" wrote: > Thank you for the reply. It's not necessarily the -2 that's offending me, > it's the fact that the scale starts *counting* at -2. So we have something > that goes -2, 3, 8, 13... etc instead of 0, 5, 10, 15. Yes, I could have it > start at -5, but that gap is much large to look "nice". I was hoping that > there was a way (VBA?) to have excel start counting at 0. Guess not. No > worries, like you write, it's not really a big deal. > > Alex > > "PBezucha" wrote: > > > Some ideas: > > > > There is nothing simpler than using connecting line thicker then the border > > lines of plot area; you can distinct also by means of different colors. There > > can be problems with connecting line disappearing under zero borders, if you > > select continuous line mode, but this phenomenon somehow distorts the overall > > image anymore. > > > > If label -2 in your proposal is offending you, you can deck it with an empty > > (white) textbox. > > > > Visualization of spectra serves usually only for obtaining a rough overview; > > absolute values don't matter. So you can omit y-scale labeling at all. The > > baseline at y=0 will be either self marked by plenty of zero values, as you > > unwittingly notice, or you can draw a new y=0 line and mark it by a textbox > > '0'. > > > > -- > > Petr Bezucha > > > > > > "Alex" wrote: > > > > > Every once in a while I need to plot some spectral data. Because it's not > > > very often and it's just simple plots, I can't justify to my boss the > > > purchase of fancy and expensive plotting software programs (SigmaPlot, > > > Origin, etc.). However, I can't figure out how to one thing in Excel: > > > > > > I have data with x being time and y being some value. Also, there are many > > > points with y=0. I want to plot an xy scatter graph with a smoothed line > > > connecting the points. However, because most points are at y=0, most of the > > > plot is hidden by the x axis. Problem is solved if I set the y minimum at, > > > say, -2 but then the axis numbering starts at -2 instead of 0. How can I set > > > the minimum at -2 but have the numbering begin at 0? |