X Axis Date Doesn't Work

Hi Rich,

You may be missing one important distinction between Line Charts and Scatter Charts. It's a rather subtle difference until you get a feel for it. In LIne Charts, one type of Category Chart, the "X" values are text and are best presented in a Header Column. In Scatter Charts, the X part of the X-Y pairs is in a non-Header column.

Here's a small table and chart that I made in about a minute using roughly your workflow, but being careful to use the proper type of column:

Regards,

Jerry

1. Scatter chart.
2. X and Y data must be in "normal" cells, nothing in header cells (unlike the other charts that need the X data to be in a header cell)

#2 is where you are going wrong.

Best way to figure out how a chart sould be "constructed" is to select a chart from the chart menu WHEN NOTHING ELSE IS SELECTED. This will insert a table AND a chart

BioRich wrote:

Oh there it is. Hehe. I got the email before the reply was even posted.

Hi Jerrold. Thanks for the reply.

The problem is that the date entries are not discrete equi-spaced durations.

Nov 18, 2012

Nov 23, 2012

Jan 13, 2013

Your chart is relying on the fixed duration between x-values. I can't do that, hence the reasonability on the scatter chart. I'm using the linear trendline to demonstrate a line chart in this instance. Pic 1:

Second, choosing scatter when selecting the first and third columns, gets me the following:

That first column is indeed chosen as a date. This chart should work, and shoving around locations in a spreadsheet, feels like a FileMaker workaround. Rather bizarre dependencies/rules to be restricting a spreadsheet. But that's more of an Apple thing. Just wanting to know the workaround for this.

Cheers

Rich,

Please re-read my post.

Jerry

BR,

My advice to you was identical to Badunit's, and I didn't yet have the benefit of your screen shot that proved conclusively that you were using the incorrect type of column for your X Data.

1. How Apple chose the behavior of the Header and Body columns with respect to chart types isn't my concern, I was just explaining to you how they work.

2. I wasn't questioning your knowledge of the chart types, but rather explaining the peculiar column type behavior that you would need to know about in order to be successful.

3. My chart example, the first and only one I gave you, works for any interval of X values. Here is the same chart with different dates:

Regards,

Jerry

"That doesn't work when choosing a line, only as scatter." Correct. A "Line Chart" is a Category chart. Category charts have one value axis and one category axis. A data point's position on the value axis is determined by the value of the datum. The same data point's position on the category axis depends on it's category's position in the column listing the categories. Categories are placed in order of the list, and are equidistant from each other.

"That's the point of scatter." Correct again. A Scatter chart has two value axes. Each data point's position is determined by a pair of values recorded in two, usually adjacent, columns of a table

"If chosen as a line, the dates are merely labels for indiscriminate values provided for the Y axis." More or less correct. I'd omit the adverb and adjective. The dates, or whatever text is used, are labels (or names) for the categories to which the values in the series belong.

If the dates are 'categories', then a category chart is an appropriate choice (although I'd be unlikely to recommend using a Line chart—just being on the list doesn't make it suited to the job).

If the dates are 'values', then a category chart is not an appropriate choice; use a scatter chart to plot the data pairs. There is an option to connect the data points with straight line segments, or with your choice of a variety of curves.

qv: Can I create a chronological X axis without all the data?

Regards,

Barry

Having the same issues. I can't seem to get a date nor date&time to work as an x-axis no matter how much fiddling I do. Very irritating. This should be a lot easier and work a lot better.

Trying to do a very simple Date:Time (sheet top header) versus changing values in rows (see attached).

Everytime I specify the date:time as the X-axis it changes the Yaxis to the same cells. If I then change the Y-axis definition cells the X-axis revert. Back and forth.

So dates and times across the top with corresponding results in each cell.

Trying to plot day:time (x-axis) versus results (y-axis). Complete disaster.

Numbers keeps trying to make B2:G2 the x-axis. If I try to manual set to B1:G1 it sets the Y-axis to B1:G1 automatically.

Wow what a mess.