Data Analysis with Microsoft Excel: Updated for Office 2007

144 Fundamentals of Statistics

9 Click the Output button and type Price Histogram by NE Sector in

the Chart Sheet name box. Click the OK button.

10 Click the OK button to start creating the histogram. The completed

chart appears in Figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10

The price

histogram

broken

down by the

NE Sector

variable

Northeast sector

homes

homes outside the

Northeast sector

In this histogram, the height of each bar is still equal to the total count of

values within that bin, but each bar is further broken down by the counts for

the various levels of the categorical variable. The counts are stacked on top

of each other. The chart makes it clear that many higher-priced homes are

located in the northeast sector, though there are still plenty of northeast sec-

tor homes in the $70,000–$100,000 range.

How do the shapes of the distributions compare for the two types of

homes? We can’t tell from this chart, because the northeast sector homes

are all stacked at uneven levels. To compare the distribution shapes, we can

compare histograms side by side. We can change the orientation of the his-

togram by modifying the chart type employed by Excel.

To compare histograms side by side:

1 Click anywhere within the chart to select it.

2 Click the Design tab from the Chart Tools ribbon.