MicrobiologyBytes: Maths & Computers for Biologists: MSExcel Updated: March 30, 2007 Search

Microsoft Excel: Charts/Graphs

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Statistics is the science of collecting and displaying numerical data. Graphs make it easy to see features in numerical data.

Things you may have forgotten about graphs:

  • Graphs generally have two axes: a horizontal X axis (or abscissa) and a vertical Y axis (or ordinate).
  • The intersection between the axes represents the zero point - if it does not, the graph should make this clear, e.g. by axis labels or breaks.
  • The axes should be long enough so that values and labels can be easily read, but not hugely dissimilar in length.
  • A graph should not need an accompanying explanation, only a title!

Why do we add error bars to graphs?

Graphs are primarily a visual way of presenting data. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell whether data is statistically significantly simply by looking at it. By plotting error bars of known size, we can indicate zones of statistical significance on graphs, and judge whether data is meaningful.

 

MSExcel is a very powerful graphing package and can draw graphs in almost any format, including many suitable for analyzing complex scientific data - if you know how to do it ...

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