Thread: How do I fit everything on the graph clearly?

Hi all,

Bit of a knotty problem. I have a line graph showing numbers using particular drugs, as reported to various agencies, by quarter. Each line represents the numbers reporting use of each drug within each quarter. (One line for each drug)
All is fine until we throw heroin into the plot. Without it, each line is clearly spaced and its fairly easy to read the graph.

The problem with throwing heroin in as well (which we really need to do) is that the numbers are so high it inflates the scale and all the other drugs end up squashed down the bottom of the graph.

So...Is there a way in Excel to have the y axis split about halfway up so we can represent all the drugs without heroin artificially squashing everything else down?

Hopefully i've explained that well enough!!!

Any clues folks?

Hi,

Here are some examples of splitting the Y axis. They are for column
charts but the technique should suit your data. Normally Line charts can
be more difficult especially if a line spans the break but it doesn't
sound like your data is doing that.

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/BrokenYAxis.html
http://tushar-mehta.com/excel/newsgr...ial/index.html
http://www.andypope.info/charts/brokencolumn.htm

Cheers
Andy

martin0642 wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Bit of a knotty problem. I have a line graph showing numbers using
> particular drugs, as reported to various agencies, by quarter. Each
> line represents the numbers reporting use of each drug within each
> quarter. (One line for each drug)
> All is fine until we throw heroin into the plot. Without it, each line
> is clearly spaced and its fairly easy to read the graph.
>
> The problem with throwing heroin in as well (which we really need to
> do) is that the numbers are so high it inflates the scale and all the
> other drugs end up squashed down the bottom of the graph.
>
> So...Is there a way in Excel to have the y axis split about halfway up
> so we can represent all the drugs without heroin artificially squashing
> everything else down?
>
> Hopefully i've explained that well enough!!!
>
> Any clues folks?
>
>

--

Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
http://www.andypope.info

"martin0642" <martin0642.2034en_1134655803.5051@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote
in message news:martin0642.2034en_1134655803.5051@excelforum-nospam.com...
>
> Hi all,
>
> Bit of a knotty problem. I have a line graph showing numbers using
> particular drugs, as reported to various agencies, by quarter. Each
> line represents the numbers reporting use of each drug within each
> quarter. (One line for each drug)
> All is fine until we throw heroin into the plot. Without it, each line
> is clearly spaced and its fairly easy to read the graph.
>
> The problem with throwing heroin in as well (which we really need to
> do) is that the numbers are so high it inflates the scale and all the
> other drugs end up squashed down the bottom of the graph.
>
> So...Is there a way in Excel to have the y axis split about halfway up
> so we can represent all the drugs without heroin artificially squashing
> everything else down?
>
> Hopefully i've explained that well enough!!!
>
> Any clues folks?

As an alternative approach, ave you tried changing the Y scale to
logarithmic?
--
David Biddulph