I
n Chapter 2, you learned how to work with data in an Excel worksheet.
In this chapter you’ll learn how to display those data with charts. This
chapter focuses primarily on two types of charts: scatter plots and
bubble charts. Both are important tools in the fi eld of statistics. You’ll also
learn how to use some features of StatPlus that give you additional tools in
working with and interpreting your charts.Introducing Excel Charts
A picture is worth a thousand words. Properly designed and presented, a
graph can be worth a thousand words of description. Concepts diffi cult to
describe through a recitation of numbers can be easily displayed in a chart
or plot. Charts can quickly show general trends, unusual observations, and
important relationships between variables. In Table 3-1, a table of monthly
sales values is displayed. How do sales vary during the year? Which month
in the table displays an unusual sales result? Can you easily tell?82 Excel
Table 3-1 Monthly Sales Values
Date Sales
Jan. 2010 $16,800
Feb. 2010 $19,300
Mar. 2010 $21,100
Apr. 2010 $21,200
May 2010 $20,700
Jun. 2010 $19,200
Jul. 2010 $16,100
Aug. 2010 $14,900
Sep. 2010 $12,100
Oct. 2010 $11,900
Nov. 2010 $12,500
Dec. 2010 $14,300
Jan. 2011 $17,500
Feb. 2011 $19,600
Mar. 2011 $20,900
Apr. 2011 $18,200
May 2011 $20,600
Jun. 2011 $18,800
Jul. 2011 $17,100
Aug. 2011 $14,100