plotting time series data in Numbers

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Level 1

32 points

plotting time series data in Numbers

I'm unable to produce a chart that shows time series data as a scatter plot in Numbers (on Mac). I've looked up the instructions and various other help sites, and no matter what I do, I end up with the actual data scatter-plotted against itself, rather than against the time it was taken:

This is... not particularly useful. Any guidance would be appreciated.

My machine is a Mac Studio M1 Max, 2022 model. MacOS 14.2.1. Numbers v. 13.2.

Mac Studio, macOS 14.2

Posted on Feb 2, 2024 8:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SGIII

Level 8

37,532 points

Feb 2, 2024 7:43 PM in response to sean.peters

It takes a little experimenting with charts to get them to work. What does your data table look like?

If you haven't done so already be sure to look at the 'Scatter Chart' sheet in the 'Charting Basics' template at File > New in your menu. That contains a working example.

Note that unlike for other types of charts the first column in the data table for the Scatter Chart is NOT defined as a Header Column, shaded by default.

Try changing the values in that first column to Date & Time (select the body cells, hit delete to clear them. With those cells still selected go to the Cell tab in the Format pane at the right and change 'Data Format' to 'Date & Time'. Then input dates/times there. You should seem them reflected in the chart.

Once you get this working in the template you should be able to apply the same approach to your own work.

SG

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Answer 2

sean.peters Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 3, 2024 7:34 AM in response to SGIII

Ok - solved it. My data was already formatted as date & time, but it was, in fact, in a header column. I first tried making another column to the left of the date & time column, but that just resulted in... a second header column, with no change in the chart behavior. So I tried making a column to the left of the next column, specifying that it wasn't a header. Then copied the column from the header to the new data column, and the chart magically worked.

In the event Apple reps are actually reading this: this behavior is RIDICULOUS. There is no reason why every other chart type works one way, and this particular one works another way. Please fix.

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plotting time series data in Numbers

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