What Is an MS Excel Chart?
Charts and graphs make series of numbers much easier to read and understand. With Excel 2007, Microsoft improved the spreadsheet application's charting abilities both in terms of simplifying the chart-creation process and in the variety of chart types and design tools.
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Types
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Excel 2007's available charts include column, line, pie, bar, area, scatter, stock, surface, doughnut, bubble and radar. Excel includes both 2-D and 3-D charts and provides predefined chart design styles as well as design tools for users.
Components
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Charts plot points on multiple axes --- the horizontal x axis and vertical y axis --- or proportionally; for example, in the wedges of a pie chart. Some chart types, such as radar charts, can plot more than two axes of data. Besides axes and data points, charts can include a legend to help viewers decipher what each element means.
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Use by Type
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Pie charts, doughnut charts, area charts, and stacked bar or column charts are logical choices for visually depicting proportions of a whole. Line and surface charts are more appropriate for tracking progress or trends. Scatter charts show data point correlation --- areas where points cluster become easy to pick out. Stock charts display opening, high, low and closing costs. Bubble and radar charts represent more complex data arrays, indicating values both by a value's position on the chart and by its size.
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References
- Photo Credit calculator chart image by max blain from Fotolia.com
