Excel 2010 Bible

Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics

472

Creating a thermometer chart

You’re probably familiar with a “thermometer” type display that shows the percentage of a task that

has been completed. Creating such a display in Excel is very easy. The trick involves creating a

chart that uses a single cell (which holds a percentage value) as a data series.

Figure 19.35 shows a worksheet set up to track daily progress toward a goal: 1,000 new customers

in a 15-day period. Cell B18 contains the goal value, and cell B19 contains a simple formula that

calculates the sum. Cell B21 contains a formula that calculates the percent of goal:

=B19/B18

As you enter new data in column B, the formulas display the current results.

FIGURE 19.35

This single-point chart displays progress toward a goal.

On the CD
A workbook with this example is available on the companion CD-ROM. The filename is thermometer
chart.xlsx.

To make the thermometer chart, select cell B21 and create a column chart from that single cell.

Notice the blank cell above cell B21. Without this blank cell, Excel uses the entire data block for

the chart, not just the single cell. Because B21 is isolated from the other data, only the single cell

is used.