charting a difference of 2 columns' w/o adding a difference column

I want to chart the difference between 2 sets of data "on-the-fly" without
having to add a difference column in the raw data. Can you put formulas in
the series box of the chart wizard?

Not in my version of Excel

"Wab" wrote:

> I want to chart the difference between 2 sets of data "on-the-fly" without
> having to add a difference column in the raw data. Can you put formulas in
> the series box of the chart wizard?

You can only put references to cell addresses or defined names. You could define a
name that calculates the difference, or you could put the formula into a worksheet
range somewhere.

Why do you not want to use another column for this calculation? Will it mess up the
worksheet you've nicely formatted? Then use a column out of sight to the user.

People seem obsessed with not adding columns for calculations, when it's by far the
easiest and most logical thing to do. Keep It Simple Stupid doesn't mean reducing
columns, it means sometimes you can reduce complexity by adding a column. If you
have a special display worksheet, keep the whole set of data on another sheet, and
let your chart and your display sheet link to the data.

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

Wab wrote:

> I want to chart the difference between 2 sets of data "on-the-fly" without
> having to add a difference column in the raw data. Can you put formulas in
> the series box of the chart wizard?

Yeah, there was a similar post from robhargreaves.1smlia_
[email protected] a few days ago. For some reason,
this thing about keeping stuff opaque is all the rage. The number of
people who flock to array formulas and VBA solutions just so that they
can save using a cell or two is amazing.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> You can only put references to cell addresses or defined names. You could define a
> name that calculates the difference, or you could put the formula into a worksheet
> range somewhere.
>
> Why do you not want to use another column for this calculation? Will it mess up the
> worksheet you've nicely formatted? Then use a column out of sight to the user.
>
> People seem obsessed with not adding columns for calculations, when it's by far the
> easiest and most logical thing to do. Keep It Simple Stupid doesn't mean reducing
> columns, it means sometimes you can reduce complexity by adding a column. If you
> have a special display worksheet, keep the whole set of data on another sheet, and
> let your chart and your display sheet link to the data.
>
> - Jon
> -------
> Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
> Peltier Technical Services
> Tutorials and Custom Solutions
> http://PeltierTech.com/
> _______
>
> Wab wrote:
>
> > I want to chart the difference between 2 sets of data "on-the-fly" without
> > having to add a difference column in the raw data. Can you put formulas in
> > the series box of the chart wizard?
>
>

I can't afford to keep things hidden away in formulas and defined names.
If I can't see the cells and the simpler formulas, it takes me too long
to fix a broken calculation. I still use arrays and VBA, of course, but
for worthwhile purposes.

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


Tushar Mehta wrote:

> Yeah, there was a similar post from robhargreaves.1smlia_
> [email protected] a few days ago. For some reason,
> this thing about keeping stuff opaque is all the rage. The number of
> people who flock to array formulas and VBA solutions just so that they
> can save using a cell or two is amazing.
>