Line Chart time plotting

CTPCryo,

Line charts are Category Charts, which means that the horizontal axis is the category axis and the vertical axis is the value axis. The Categories must be in a Header Column. As you most likely know, Categories are plotted at equal distance intervals across the horizontal axis. Since your time values are equal intervals of time this shouldn't be a problem in this case.

If you should happen to want an X-Y chart, Numbers calls that a Scatter Chart. Scatter Charts are plots of individual points. You can simulate a line chart in Scatter chart mode by setting Data Symbol to None and turning on Connecting Lines, either straight or curved.

Frustrating because all the formatting options are context sensitive, so finding them seems hit or miss, unless you really know the jargon.

Regards,

Jerry

CTPCryo wrote:

the 2D scatter does not display any data as well as the horizontal line does not show the time data....

The following may give you some ideas (2D Scatter, after clicking the chart and then the 'Edit Data References' rectangle button):

Note that I did not select Column A before inserting the chart. That is because your Column A appears to have only one value followed by blank cells. Numbers doesn't know what to do with those blank cells.

How Numbers handles dates and time is a complicated subject. It's different from Excel. If you will have more than one date on the chart (as opposed to one date and multiple times as in your screenshot) then more details will be needed one what you want to show in the chart.

In the meantime you should have no problem charting times in one date. Make sure the Time column is formatted as Date & Time so the values in it are right-aligned by default.

SG

Time values won’t work in Scatter Plots. They must first be converted to Duration, and then maybe to number values, not sure. If Duration doesn’t work for you, then strip to dimensionless numbers.

Don’t move to fast though. You may be able to get by by converting the Time column to a header column and treating the time values as category labels, which would allow you to use a line chart.

Jerry

SG

SG,

I will have to give that another go. Never had any luck in the past. By past I mean yesterday

Thanks

Jerry

Jerry,

It's a little tricky but it does work here if the values in all the body cells of column B are Date & Time, right-aligned by default.

SG