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Want to create comparative pie charts in same chart

  1. #1
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    Want to create comparative pie charts in same chart

    Hey guys,

    I'm doing a case study for class and am having trouble creating a chart that I want to compare data.

    The Data is in excel files attached below. I am using Excel 2007 but have attached in an older version as well.

    I want to have a Pie graph showing the different drink from Column A and Market share %'s from column B, then another pie graph using the same Column A info and then Advertising Expenditures from Column C.

    I'd like to have them side-by-side in a single chart so I can easily paste into the Word document I'm typing the paper in.

    Is this possible?

    Thanks
    Attached Files Attached Files

  2. #2
    Forum Expert teylyn's Avatar
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    Re: Want to create comparative pie charts in same chart

    Hi Grasor,

    first of all, you shouldn't use pie charts for this. Why?

    #1: Pie charts with more than two or three wedges are not suitable to compare values. The human eye cannot judge the size of a wedge very well. Use horizontal bars instead, because it's very easy for the eye to see the different lengths of bars.
    Your data has 11 data points, which is way too much for a pie chart.

    #2: your data shows percentages for the year 1999. If you graph these numbers in a pie chart, you'll have a nice round pie with 10 wedges. But the chart will be misleading, since the numbers add up to only 70% (of the market share, since the category "other" is missing) and the wedges will be bigger than they should. Using a horizontal bar chart, you can leave out any product category without affecting the information value of the chart.

    Read up on pie charts on Jon Peltier's blog http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/ and many other good sources on the web.

    Your other problem was: how to put two charts into one, so you can easily copy and paste a complete set to Word. You do not have to jump through any hoops to force Excel to make two charts in one panel. Just make two charts, place them side by side, remove the chart borders and create a border on the Excel cells surrounding the two charts. Then, highlight the Excel cells that contain the two charts and copy/paste into Word as one.

    HTH

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