how to plot in excel

7/28/2019 How to Plot in Excel

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-to-plot-in-excel 1/8

ME56 - Creating a plot suitable for a report.Creating a plot suitable for a report for the first time in Excel involves

a number of steps, see below. Second time round you can shortcut the process,

see item 7.

1. Initial Plot

Load Displacement in inches at z=5 Displacement in inches at z=15

5.2 1.12 2.52

10.3 2.08 4.87

15.7 2.97 7.63

19.9 3.88 10.21

Plot created by selecting above table and then choosing 'Chart' from the

'Insert Menu', selecting 'XY Scatter' and then choosing the default type

in which data are plotted as points.

2. Get rid of the colored background, and colored points

Removing the colored background:

Right click on an empty part of the the plot area, select 'Format Plot Area',change the border color to black, and select 'None' under area

Changing the points to black and white:

Right click on each set of points, select 'Format Data Series',

select the 'Patterns' tab. Under 'Line' make sure 'None' is selected.

Under 'Marker' select 'Custom', choose the symbol shape you want

under 'Style', then set the foreground color to black, the background

color to white, gray or black, and the size as you wish.

3. Fixing the grid lines

Removing grid lines:

Right click on an empty area of the plot and select 'Chart Options'

select the 'Grid lines' tab and make sure all boxes are un-checked.

Tip: Measured data should, in general be plotted as distinct points,

with no lines, since it is the points that were actually measured. Lines should only be added if they represent something else, e.g. a regression fit, the

result of a theoretical prediction.

Tip: Color should be avoided unless absolutely necessary, as reports are

almost always printed or copied in black and white. Colored backgrounds

in particular detract from the clear presentation of the data.

Tip: Grid lines should only be used if needed in which case they should be

included for both axes, and shown in gray or as dashed lines so as not to

be confused with axis lines, or annotations on the plot



Fixing grid lines (not shown):

Right click on an empty area of the plot and select 'Chart Options'

select the 'Grid lines' tab and make both major gridlines boxes are

checked (and both minor gridlines boxes are unchecked) and press OK.

Then right click on each set of gridlines, select 'Format Gridlines' and

choose a broken and or gray line.

4. Fixing the axes

Fixing axesRight click on each axis and select 'Format Axis', and choose the 'Patterns'

tab. Select 'Outside' for major and minor tick mark type. Then press

the 'Scale' tab, check that the major and minor divisions obey the 1,2 or 5

rule above (most often with Excel they don't)

5. Adding suitable axes titles

Right click on an empty area of the plot, select 'Chart Options', select the

Titles' tab and enter the axes titles you want. Don't be tempted to add

a 'Chart Title' as Excel will put it in the wrong place. You can add that later

when you have pasted the chart into PowerPoint.

Click twice slowly on each axis title, so that you can edit the text. Select

the text and change to the report font (Times Roman in this case). Select any

Roman symbols and change to italics.

6. Fixing the legend and removing the box

Fixing the legend

For this plot the title will be "Beam displacements at the two z locations

Tip: Axes should have proper scales and show major and minor divisions.

A proper linear scale is one in which both major and minor divisions are in

units of 1,2 or 5 x 10^n, where n is an integer. Tick marks should point outwards

and at least 5 major divisions should appear on each axis. If reasonable axes

should cross at zero. If not reasonable a note should be made in the figure or

axis title (e.g."note false origin on displacement axis")

Tip: Axes titles should include the name and/or symbol of the plotted quantity

and its unit, in a font consistent with the rest of the report.

Tip: The legend should appear within the axes, if possible without obscuring

data. There should be no box drawn around graphs..



plotted versus applied load". The legend therefore only needs to include

the z locations. To change the legend text, right click on the data points

and select 'Source Data', press the 'Series' tab and select in turn, using

the list in the bottom left corner of the dialog box, the two data series. For

each series delete whatever appears in the 'Name=' box and replace it with

the text you actually want to appear in the legend for that case. Press OK.

Now drag the legend into the empty part of the plot where you want it.

Deleting the border

Right click on the area outside the plot and select 'Format Chart Area', choose

the 'Patterns' tab and select 'None' under 'Border'. You may also want

to select none under 'Area' so that the background to your plot is transparent

when you copy to PowerPoint.

7. Reducing the work next time

Once you have created a high quality plot, you can save the format to use next time.

To do this, right click on the plot and select, 'Chart Type', press the 'Custom Types'

tab and select 'User defined'. Then click the 'Add…' button and fill in a name and description.Next time you want to create a plot of this type, select 'Chart' under the 'Insert' menu,

then select the 'Custom Types' tab, choose 'User defined' and select your plot.

You will probably need to recheck the scales, axes titles and legend.

8. Other enhancements

(a) Adding Error Bars

Right click on each set of data points, select 'Format Data Series' and then

press the 'X error bars' or 'Y error bars' as appropriate. Enter the appropriate

values (usually either under 'Fixed value' or 'Percentage'). The source of errors and how

the magnitudes were estimated must be described in the text of your

report.

(b) Making corrections or adding labels

Once you have copied your figure to PowerPoint you can use the drawing

tools to make any minor corrections or add labels. The picture here shows

the changing of a single error bar (made by manually drawing

over the plotted symbol), and the adding of an explanation.

Arrowed labels of this type can often be used to replace the legend.

Tip: If estimates of the accuracy of the data are available and comparable

in scale to the size of the quantity, the error magnitudes can be shown using

error bars.



Note from Prof. Yong Gyun Kim

1. There was no comments about copyright of this document

2.This material is taken from a website for educational purpose.

3. Accorting to the information of this document, the Autor of this document is William Devenport in Vi



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