Graphs are used to visually display tables of data. Therefore, at least one table needs to already be inserted in order to insert a graph. You can insert a graph with the button. To learn how to insert see Inserting Objects, above. There can be up to 6 graphs on the page at once.
When inserting a graph a pop-up dialog box to select a table appears first, as seen below. If there is more than one table to graph use the arrow buttons to select the desired table. Press OK when the desired table is visible to go to the graph dialog box.
Note: You can delete a table after it has been
graphed and the graph will still be drawn from the table data selected.
After the table to graph is selected, the graph dialog box below appears. Use the tabs at the top of the box to select the desired graph type. Each graph type has different parameters to enter to format the graph. There are four graph types, Circle, Bar, Line or Histogram.
To edit a graph double-click the graph and the dialog box with the graph's parameters to edit will appear. Edit the parameters and press the OK button to redraw the graph, or press Cancel to cancel editing.
A pie or circle graph is used to show the relationship
of each part to a whole. This graph visually represents the percentage of each
item of a whole (the sum of all items). In order to make a pie graph the values
to graph MUST be in columns.
For a circle (or pie) graph there are options to choose the Value
Column and the Name Column. Just type in the column number desired.
It defaults to the values in the diagram above, 1 for names and 2 for values.
Being able to choose the columns allows flexibility in using one table for multiple
pie graphs and using one table to list multiple relationships. If the first
row of the table is column labels, like the example below, check the First
Row
Labels
check box to skip this row when generating the graph. It defaults to being checked.
You can enter the last row to include in the graph (up to 20 rows) using
the Last Row
field. This allows you to not include a row such as the column
total or average.
The Name Column is the column that has the labels of the values in the Value Column. The content in the Name Column are treated as text. The content in the Value Column are treated as values – if they are not numbers their value will be zero for the graph.
A bar graph is used to show comparisons among categories. A multiple bar graph shows more than one category of comparisons changing over time or some other variable. The table used to create a line graph MUST be in a specific layout. As the diagram below, left, shows, row one (1) must contain labels of the data in the columns. Column one MUST be the variable (labels) on the horizontal axis. Examples could include time, temperature, location or any variable that corresponds to the values in the following columns. The data to be graphed is in the columns under their corresponding labels. A color coded legend is displayed below the graph region.
The above example graphs the number of CDs and Cassettes sold from 1988 to 1990. The table goes up to 1992, but the Last Row to Include is set to 4, limiting the years.
Below is the the dialog box for entering Line Graph parameters. The parameters that can be changed are the Last Row to Include and the Minimum and Maximum values of the vertical axis of the graph. The Last Row to Include allows you to not include rows after this value, such as column sums which would often be the last row of a table. The Last Row to Include defaults to the last row of the selected table. Zero is the default Minimum and the Maximum is the largest value in the columns, including the last row. Adjust these values to zoom in on a region of the graph, changing the values displayed on the vertical axis.
A line or multiple line graph shows more than one category changing over time or some other variable. (Note: the bar and line graphs have the same table format requirements.) The table used to create a line graph MUST be in a specific layout. As the diagram below, left, shows, row one (1) must contain labels of the data in the columns. Column one MUST be the variable (labels) on the horizontal axis. Examples could include time, temperature, location or any variable that corresponds to the values in the following columns. The data to be graphed is in the columns under their corresponding labels. A color coded legend is displayed below the graph region.
The above example (same as bar example) graphs the number of CDs and Cassettes sold from 1988 to 1990. The table goes up to 1992, but the Last Row to Include is set to 4, limiting the years.
Below is the the dialog box for entering Line Graph parameters. The parameters that can be changed are the Last Row to Include and the Minimum and Maximum values of the vertical axis of the graph. The Last Row to Include allows you to not include rows after this value, such as column sums which would often be the last row of a table. The Last Row to Include defaults to the last row of the selected table. Zero is the default Minimum and the Maximum is the largest value in the columns, including the last row. Adjust these values to zoom in on a region of the graph, changing the values displayed on the vertical axis.
A histogram is a special type of bar graph used to show the frequency of data. There is no space between the bars and the height of the bars gives the frequency of the data. The table format for a histogram graph MUST be in rows. Row one labels the horizontal axis and the frequency intervals. The first cell of the row is the label for the frequency axis. The other rows of the table contain count or frequency information, with the first column being the label for the values in that row. The columns contain the counts or frequencies.
The above
example histogram is a graph of the number of books a middle school’s grades
read in a month. Each row is the total number of students that read the given
range of books per month. The range, or interval, is labeled in the column headers
(1st row). These are used as the horizontal axes labels. Each grade
is counted separately and the total of all grades is summed in the last row,
the TOTAL row. The total is used as the frequency values graphed in this example.
The Row Number of Values is set to 5, the TOTAL row, setting the row
to graph.
Below is the the dialog box for entering Histogram parameters. Two parameters in a histogram graph can be changed. The first is the Row Number of Values of the frequencies to graph. The Row Number of Values defaults to the last row of the selected table. Rows between the first and the last might be used to count some values. The last row would then be set to the sum or total frequency to be graphed. The Maximum value of the vertical axis of the graph is set to a default of the maximum value of the default Row Number of Values.
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