Choosing the Best Chart Type for Your Data

Excel enables you to create an impressive variety of different types of charts. Some of the charts are useful for many purposes, whereas others are highly specialized. Table 7–1 describes the types of charts that Excel provides and suggests typical uses for them. The table lists the charts in the same order as Excel's Chart panel, which I'll describe shortly and which puts the most widely used chart types first.

Table 7–1. Excel's Chart Types and Suggested Uses

Chart Category Description Suggested Uses
Column Displays data in vertical bars. Comparing equivalent items (such as sales results) or sets of data that change over time (such as rainfall).
Line Displays each series in a line. Showing evenly spaced values that change over time, such as temperatures.
Pie Displays a single data series as a pie divided up by the contribution of each data point. Showing how much each item contributes to the whole; for example, breaking down expenses by department.
Bar Displays data in horizontal bars. Comparing similar items or indicating progress.
Area Displays data as lines but with the areas between the lines shaded. Showing how values have changed over time, especially the contribution of different data points in the series.
Scatter Displays each data point as a point (or cross, or similar marker) on the plot area. Also known as an XY chart. Showing values sampled at different times or that are not directly related to each other.
Stock Displays each data series as a vertical line or bar indicating three or more prices or measurements (for example, high, low, and closing prices). Showing the daily prices of stocks. Also suitable for some scientific data.
Surface Displays the data points as a three-dimensional surface. Comparing two sets of data to find a suitable combination of them.
Doughnut Displays the data series as a sequence of concentric rings. Showing how much each item contributes to the whole—like a pie chart, but it works with two or more data series.
Bubble Displays the data points as bubbles of different sizes depending on their values. Showing the relative importance of each data point.
Radar Displays the combined values of different data series. Showing how the combined values of separate data series compare to each other (for example, the sales contributions of several different products over several periods of time).
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