| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Tantalin
Newbie
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 2
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:10 am Post subject: 2 Different X Axis on graph |
 |
|
Howdy,
I am trying to create a very basic graph from my data and one that I am sure has been done over and over as I am trying to show Temperature over time shown by month and day.
I have 3 columns of data.
Month, Day (of the month), Temp
When I create a line chart I have one line showing for the entire year with the temp.
What I want along the X axis is the days and the Month. I can get it to show either the month or the day, but not both. As the chart is long and when someone is looking at say May, I want them to be able to see May and the date without having to count out either the months or days.
I could play with it and put in the months under the chart in cells, but I would think this would be something many people would want.
If someone wanted to create a sales chart of net for each day and then compare it to the previous year(s), I would think having the month and day along the X Axis would be helpful.
I know you could put the data for both years on the same graph, but it still leaves one wondering what month and day that data is for unless they count it out.
If there is a tutorial or online discussion for something like this that I missed, please send me that way so that I can read it and then use that source in the future for answers before starting yet another thread.
Thanks |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
jrkrideau
Super User
Joined: 08 Aug 2005
Posts: 6733
Location: Kingston ON Canada
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:36 am Post subject: Re: 2 Different X Axis on graph |
|
|
| Tantalin wrote: | Howdy,
I am trying to create a very basic graph from my data and one that I am sure has been done over and over as I am trying to show Temperature over time shown by month and day.
I have 3 columns of data.
Month, Day (of the month), Temp
When I create a line chart I have one line showing for the entire year with the temp.
What I want along the X axis is the days and the Month. I can get it to show either the month or the day, but not both. As the chart is long and when someone is looking at say May, I want them to be able to see May and the date without having to count out either the months or days. |
You can just concatenate the month and day to get something
=CONCATENATE(A2;" ";B2) for example
However for any reasonable amount of data (say six months or so) it is going to give you more names than you can deal with. It should work for just one month or so.
For more data I'd suggest a different approach, however it would require something other than OOo. Calc , and other spreadsheets, are just not that sophisticated in graphing.
I'd suggest something like this but with a bit more care to horizontal and vertical layouts than I took.  (I just some made up random temp data and graphed in R http://www.r-project.org/ ). You are not trying to give exact day-by-day data in this graph, just the overall pattern of what happened.
Unless you are trying to identify specific sudden sales surges the shape of the overall graph is more important and there are better ways to identify specific outlining days.
| Quote: |
If someone wanted to create a sales chart of net for each day and then compare it to the previous year(s), I would think having the month and day along the X Axis would be helpful. |
Probably not. Unless you are trying to identify specific sudden sales surges the shape of the overall graph is probably more important and there are better ways to identify specific outlining days. See Min() Max(), etc.
| Quote: | | I know you could put the data for both years on the same graph, but it still leaves one wondering what month and day that data is for unless they count it out. |
It is quite difficult to read values from the two lines at any specific point. You'd be better subtracting year from another and graphing the change data. This would allow the reader to identify the really noticeable changes at a glance and without having to do some relatively complicated subtracting of lengths on a graph.
I cannot find the url for this but you can find it in William Cleveland's book The Elements of Graphing Data .
If you really need the exact values for a day then a table is the way to go, perhaps in an appendix.
| Quote: | If there is a tutorial or online discussion for something like this that I missed, please send me that way so that I can read it and then use that source in the future for answers before starting yet another thread.
Thanks |
I don't know of anything specifically related to Calc. Cleveland's book is a good start if you are interested in graphing data. Edward Tufte has some very interesting work out.
_________________
jrkrideau
Kingston ON Canada
Currently using Windows 7 & OOo 3.4.0 and Ubuntu 12.04 & LibreOffice 3.5.2.2 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tantalin
Newbie
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 2
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Howdy,
Thank you so much; looks like I have a trip to Powell's books. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jrkrideau
Super User
Joined: 08 Aug 2005
Posts: 6733
Location: Kingston ON Canada
|
| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Tantalin wrote: | Howdy,
Thank you so much; looks like I have a trip to Powell's books. |
Try the university library first. The books are fairly expensive and not all that common outside of academia. UP has it Call letters: QA90 .C54 1994 assuming you are in that area.
_________________
jrkrideau
Kingston ON Canada
Currently using Windows 7 & OOo 3.4.0 and Ubuntu 12.04 & LibreOffice 3.5.2.2 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
