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Of all the variety of Excel charts, a line graph is best suited for showing how different things change over time. Good visualization of trends and changes.Line charts work well in the following situations: The line's falls and rises across the graph reveal trends in your dataset: an upward slope shows an increase in values and a downward slope indicates a decrease. Negative values, if any, are plotted below the x-axis. Typically, independent values such as time intervals are plotted on the horizontal x-axis while dependent values such as prices, sales and the like go to the vertical y-axis. It is commonly used to visually represent quantitative data over a certain time period. Create a tiny line graph for each row (sparklines)Ī line graph (aka line chart) is a visual that displays a series of data points connected by a straight line.So, let's take a look at how to make a line chart in Excel, when it is especially effective, and how it can help you in understanding complex data sets. As the great artist Leonardo da Vinci said, "Simplicity is the greatest form of sophistication." Line graphs are very popular in statistics and science because they show trends clearly and are easy to plot. However, being simple does not mean being worthless. The line graph is one of the simplest and easiest-to-make charts in Excel. The tutorial explains the process of making a line graph in Excel step-by-step and shows how to customize and improve it.
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