Thread: What chart to use, how to set up data table?

Hi

I have the following data. What chart should I use to display it most effectively?
How do I set up the data table for it? I tried using a scatter plot, but couldn't figure out how to make the X axis be the employee names.

Employee Commission
Dave 1.3
Dave 0.3
Steve 2.5
Dave 9.4
Al 3.2
Bob 6.1

That is truly odd because changing the style to a line formats properly but yet the scatter does not.

I thought a Scatter chart was used to show the relationship between "two" numerical variables. Perhaps Excel cannot identify the text (names) as variables.

xy-scatter uses numeric values only for the x and y point. If text or no value is used for the x data then the default is a linear sequence starting from 1.

If you use the line chart you can display the names as categorys. But the chart will not automatically group and summarize your data. So Dave will appear 3 times rather than once.

Either use formula or pivot table to summarize data for charting.

Once you have your data sorted the best chart type would be a column/bar. A line chart suggests a trend/progression along the x axis so is better suit to dates

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately, neither of those graphs in your workbook Andy show the information I'm trying to display. I need to show the range and frequency of the commissions, not the total commission.

Let's say I'm thinking of removing commissions, and switching to a base pay. I want increase each employee's base pay so they will make, on average, what they would have made with commissions. I can find that number with a simple average. However, the average number becomes skewed if an employee recieves a few stupidly large commissions or 0 commissions. I want a way to show all the commissions for all employees. Is this possible?

Attached is what I guess I had in mind, though seems like it may not be possible.

More like this line chart then?

That's perfect Andy, Thanks!