Chapter 20: Getting Started with Excel Charts
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■ (^) Making relative comparisons: A common pie chart can depict relative proportions
in terms of pie “slices.”
■ (^) Comparing data relationships: An XY chart is ideal for this comparison. For exam-
ple, you might show the relationship between monthly marketing expenditures and
sales.
■ Comparing frequency: You can use a common histogram, for example, to display
the number (or percentage) of students who scored within a particular grade range.
■ Identifying outliers or unusual situations: If you have thousands of data points,
creating a chart may help identify data that isn’t representative.
Choosing a chart type
A common question among Excel users is “How do I know which chart type to use for my
data?” Unfortunately, this question has no cut-and-dried answer. Perhaps the best answer
is a vague one: use the chart type that gets your message across in the simplest way. A
good starting point is Excel’s recommended charts. Select your data and choose Insert ➪
Charts ➪ Recommended Charts to see the chart types that Excel suggests. Remember that
these suggestions are not always the best choices.
In the Ribbon, the Charts group of the Insert tab shows the Recommended Charts button, plus nine other drop-down
buttons. All of these drop-down buttons display multiple chart types. For example, column and bar charts are all
available from a single drop-down button. Similarly, scatter charts and bubble charts share a single button. Probably
the easiest way to choose a particular chart type is to select Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts, which dis-
plays the Insert Chart dialog box with the Recommended Charts tab displayed. Select the All Charts tab, and you’ll
have a concise list of all chart and subchart types.
Figure 20.16 shows the same set of data plotted by using six different chart types.
Although all six charts represent the same information (monthly website visitors), they
look quite different from one another.
The column chart (upper left) is probably the best choice for this particular set of data
because it clearly shows the information for each month in discrete units. The bar chart
(upper right) is similar to a column chart, but the axes are swapped. Most people are more
accustomed to seeing time-based information extend from left to right rather than from
top to bottom, so this isn’t the optimal choice.
The line chart (middle left) may not be the best choice because it can imply that the data
is continuous—that points exist in between the 12 actual data points. This same argument
may be made against using an area chart (middle right).
The pie chart (lower left) is simply too confusing and does nothing to convey the time-
based nature of the data. Pie charts are most appropriate for a data series in which you
want to emphasize proportions among a relatively small number of data points. If you have
too many data points, a pie chart can be impossible to interpret.