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Custom error bars not working

  1. #1

    Custom error bars not working

    Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3.
    I have data that looks like this:
    Median Min Max
    Na 0.032617 0.000106 0.387142
    Cl 0.0265 0.000017 0.282087
    Ca 0.000524 0.0000047 0.0059883
    K 0.005523 0.000007 0.038365
    Mg 0.0000823 0.0000001 0.0018515
    PO4 0.00031 0.00002 0.00105
    HCO3 0.001655 0.000262 0.003048
    I'm doing a line plot with the first column as the categorical x axis,
    and the second column, median, on the y-axis, which is logarithmic. I
    then set up error bars using the values in the min and max column
    (columns 3 and 4 above) as custom values in the "error amount" part of
    the format data series dialog. The max values would be for the plus
    side of the error bar, and the min values are for the minus side.

    I thought this would work perfectly, however, only the plus side of the
    error bar is showing up, not the minus side. And in the format data
    series dialog I DO have it set to show both.

    So, I was wondering if anyone had run into this before, and if there is
    a reason and a solution. I want the minus part of the error bars to
    show.

    Thank you,
    Nicole


  2. #2
    Jon Peltier
    Guest

    Re: Custom error bars not working

    You need to tell Excel the proper values to use for the error bars. For
    negative error, use (mean - min), and for positive error, use (max - mean).

    - Jon
    -------
    Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
    Peltier Technical Services
    Tutorials and Custom Solutions
    http://PeltierTech.com/
    _______


    <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3.
    > I have data that looks like this:
    > Median Min Max
    > Na 0.032617 0.000106 0.387142
    > Cl 0.0265 0.000017 0.282087
    > Ca 0.000524 0.0000047 0.0059883
    > K 0.005523 0.000007 0.038365
    > Mg 0.0000823 0.0000001 0.0018515
    > PO4 0.00031 0.00002 0.00105
    > HCO3 0.001655 0.000262 0.003048
    > I'm doing a line plot with the first column as the categorical x axis,
    > and the second column, median, on the y-axis, which is logarithmic. I
    > then set up error bars using the values in the min and max column
    > (columns 3 and 4 above) as custom values in the "error amount" part of
    > the format data series dialog. The max values would be for the plus
    > side of the error bar, and the min values are for the minus side.
    >
    > I thought this would work perfectly, however, only the plus side of the
    > error bar is showing up, not the minus side. And in the format data
    > series dialog I DO have it set to show both.
    >
    > So, I was wondering if anyone had run into this before, and if there is
    > a reason and a solution. I want the minus part of the error bars to
    > show.
    >
    > Thank you,
    > Nicole
    >




  3. #3
    NTE
    Guest

    Re: Custom error bars not working

    Jon,
    thank you ever so much for your reply. I tried it and it
    works..........

    I now have points with error bars representing the max and mins. Looks
    just like what we wanted!

    I have a second question, and I've spent most of the day on your web
    page and this group trying to figure out if there is an answer (if you
    prefer a sepearate posting, let me know).

    The data represented above is from a natural source. We also want to
    plot data for a man made source--so for each category (e.g. Na) there
    is going to be another median, min, max. We want this to appear BESIDE
    the natural data, not in line with it (and hence overlapping). I've
    read in this group about offsetting a series, but there seems to be no
    easy way to do it. I'm guessing with the categorical x axis that this
    will be hard to accomplish?

    Many thanks again for the solution.
    Nicole


  4. #4
    Andy Pope
    Guest

    Re: Custom error bars not working

    Hi,

    Now Jon has sorted you error bar problem I will try with the offset one

    Add a secondary data series and change the chart type to xy scatter.
    Try the following values for the X-values
    1.2
    2.2
    3.2
    4.2
    5.2
    6.2
    7.2

    You may find turning off the Log scale while you do this makes it clearer.

    Cheers
    Andy

    NTE wrote:
    > Jon,
    > thank you ever so much for your reply. I tried it and it
    > works..........
    >
    > I now have points with error bars representing the max and mins. Looks
    > just like what we wanted!
    >
    > I have a second question, and I've spent most of the day on your web
    > page and this group trying to figure out if there is an answer (if you
    > prefer a sepearate posting, let me know).
    >
    > The data represented above is from a natural source. We also want to
    > plot data for a man made source--so for each category (e.g. Na) there
    > is going to be another median, min, max. We want this to appear BESIDE
    > the natural data, not in line with it (and hence overlapping). I've
    > read in this group about offsetting a series, but there seems to be no
    > easy way to do it. I'm guessing with the categorical x axis that this
    > will be hard to accomplish?
    >
    > Many thanks again for the solution.
    > Nicole
    >


    --

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

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