How to Graphically Show Annual Cost Trends
Analyzing cost trends is an important step in setting prices to match rising or lowering costs over time. Though you could always analyze a numerical column listing annual costs, it's often easier to note a trend when you can see it visually. Using a line graph, you can plot out the cost trends. By depicting the costs via dots on the graph and then connecting them with lines, you can show the rise and fall of costs over time at a glance, instantly showing obvious trends in the data presented.
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Instructions
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Gather the annual price trends over the period of time you wish to represent in your graph.
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Draw a horizontal line to serve as the bottom of your line graph, and then draw a vertical line at the left-hand corner of your vertical line rising upwards at a 90-degree angle.
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Place the price levels for your graph to the left of the vertical line, starting with $0 where the line meets the horizontal line and rising to a dollar amount that rounded upwards from the top price point. For example, if the highest cost in your list is $5,863, then make the highest point of your graph $6000. Keep the price points in equal measures. Here, the prices might read in thousands, with a point along the left line at $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and adding a thousand until it reaches $6,000 at the top of the graph.
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Label the bottom line of the graph by listing years beneath the horizontal line. Start with Year 1 and using equal spacing, mark the remaining years that you're covering towards the right of the line.
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Place the words "Annual Cost" to the left of the dollar amounts. Write the letters sideways, running from bottom to top and using the line as a base.
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Place a dot onto the graph centered over each year and positioned at the height of that year's cost. Use a ruler to connect the dots with a line to represent visually the upwards or downwards trend in the cost.
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References
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