Trouble creating a simple graph

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Level 1

95 points

Trouble creating a simple graph

I am going to leave out a well-deserved diatribe, but I shall stick a large spike in my eye afterwards.

I have a simple table. Column A represents the quantity of widgets I buy. Column B shows me my price per widget. If I pulled out paper and drew a graph, the vertical would represent Column B, and horizontal A. It would show a line going down and to the right. Poof.....what I get is below.

I started with Visicalc on the Mac, then Lotus (anyone else get loted?) then multiple versions of of the spreadsheet that must not be named. When I go into a random room, I expect the light switches to be a little lower than shoulder height as I enter the room.

If the light switch was in the left front chair leg of the closest chair to the door, it would take most people a bit of time to figure it out. Especially if the switch was operated with adding drops of food coloring of the right color.

I just spent two hours how to see the formula I just typed in a cell and 5 hours on what should take 3 minutes. Figuring out the colors for a light switch would be easier. I promised myself I wouldn't rant. Sorry...weak willed.

How can I create a graph that I learned how to do in fourth grade?

MacBook

Posted on Jan 7, 2020 1:34 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SGIII

Level 8

36,206 points

Jan 7, 2020 7:19 AM in response to Jarmaracark

Not sure what you're doing there.

I just started with a table like this:

Note that unlike in Excel (which, BTW, is not unmentionable at all these days; it's great on the Mac, and you can even get it on the Mac App Store) a table in Numbers typically should not have lots of blank cells the way you show in your screenshot. Check out the templates at File > New in your menu, especially the Charting Basics template, to see good examples of what tables should look like in Numbers.

Then I selected all the cells in that table (A1:B11) and choose Insert > Chart > 2D Scatter from the menu, giving me this:

Then it takes just a minute or two to pretty it up a little, add a connection line, change the scales to your liking, etc.

SG

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Answer 2

sapper

Level 4

1,743 points

Jan 7, 2020 3:41 AM in response to Jarmaracark

I must say that Apple haven't made it easy to create a graph based on what, to them, is perhaps a simple formula.

However, if it helps, there are 6 variations of all the graphs they have created by clicking on the dots below each set of graph examples, or the arrow to the right of each set, but I suspect that it's the actual formula that needs looking at

I can see that you are attempting to show a relationship between how many widgets and the resulting comparison based on how many you buy i.e. cost per item which you have shown.

Rather than a graph, perhaps it might be better to use the Insert column to find the average cost per widget across the range of prices:

Thus, as you will see from my rendition of your figures, that the average cost per widget across the range of values is 14.3025 per widget.

Hope that helps.

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Answer 3

sapper

Level 4

1,743 points

Jan 7, 2020 8:17 AM in response to SGIII

Ok, that only shows that the unit costs go down the more you buy. All I did was to show what the average unit cost was against the range of prices, but in actual numbers. Perhaps of more use to a prospective buyer than a graph that doesn't display the obvious.

My apologies for getting it wrong.

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Answer 4

SGIII

Level 8

36,206 points

Jan 7, 2020 11:34 PM in response to Jarmaracark

Apple can be terse with its documentation (there doesn't seem to be much on charts). But, as suggested above, be sure to check out the 'Charting Basics' template at File > New in your menu. Once you experiment a little you may find things quickly become more "intuitive" than when you first tried. I forget what doing a chart was like back on Lotus 1-2-3, but it wasn't easy, and the results didn't look all that great. Charts in Excel aren't that easy either. Charting is hard. Getting a chart to look right often, unfortunately, requires a lot of time experimenting.

Thanks for the green tick!

SG

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