scatter and line combined

Is it possible to create a chart that combines scatter and line elements?
I am comparing actual salaries with market standards. I can chart these
separately. I've got a line chart showing the 25th, Median and 75th quartile
salaries for the industry at 1, 2, 3, etc. years of experience. I can also
create a nice scatter graph that plots time on the X- and salary on the
Y-axis. The trouble comes when I want to combine the two.
The source data for the line chart has three columns of data (salaries under
each category), plus a fourth for data series labels (# of years, whole
numbers). While the source data for the scatter is just two columns: time
(fractions of years) and salary.
Is there a common solution for this objective? If so, what topics in Excel
help should I read up on?

Share with us some typical X values and axis ranges of the line and XY
series.

You may be able to use the secondary axis or add some kind of offset to some
series.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Ray Pendergast" <RayPendergast@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:54201907-ACF8-4145-B414-E1EE67029A15@microsoft.com...
> Is it possible to create a chart that combines scatter and line elements?
> I am comparing actual salaries with market standards. I can chart these
> separately. I've got a line chart showing the 25th, Median and 75th
> quartile
> salaries for the industry at 1, 2, 3, etc. years of experience. I can
> also
> create a nice scatter graph that plots time on the X- and salary on the
> Y-axis. The trouble comes when I want to combine the two.
> The source data for the line chart has three columns of data (salaries
> under
> each category), plus a fourth for data series labels (# of years, whole
> numbers). While the source data for the scatter is just two columns: time
> (fractions of years) and salary.
> Is there a common solution for this objective? If so, what topics in
> Excel
> help should I read up on?

Ray -

I suggest using the XY (Scatter) chart type for each of your data series.

You'll have better control over the X axis alignment (compared to the Line
chart type), and you can format some of the XY series to have line
connectors and some without.

- Mike
http://www.MikeMiddleton.com


"Ray Pendergast" <RayPendergast@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:54201907-ACF8-4145-B414-E1EE67029A15@microsoft.com...
> Is it possible to create a chart that combines scatter and line elements?
> I am comparing actual salaries with market standards. I can chart these
> separately. I've got a line chart showing the 25th, Median and 75th
> quartile
> salaries for the industry at 1, 2, 3, etc. years of experience. I can
> also
> create a nice scatter graph that plots time on the X- and salary on the
> Y-axis. The trouble comes when I want to combine the two.
> The source data for the line chart has three columns of data (salaries
> under
> each category), plus a fourth for data series labels (# of years, whole
> numbers). While the source data for the scatter is just two columns: time
> (fractions of years) and salary.
> Is there a common solution for this objective? If so, what topics in
> Excel
> help should I read up on?

I stumbled onto my own solution. I inserted the values I wanted to have a
line between as a contiguous group within the range of source data, edited
the formatting of the data point within the graph to connect to its
neighboring value with a line. It took some finesse, but I got it to work
for my purpose.
Thanks.

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

> Share with us some typical X values and axis ranges of the line and XY
> series.
>
> You may be able to use the secondary axis or add some kind of offset to some
> series.
>
> - Jon
> -------
> Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
> Tutorials and Custom Solutions
> Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
> _______
>
>
> "Ray Pendergast" <RayPendergast@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:54201907-ACF8-4145-B414-E1EE67029A15@microsoft.com...
> > Is it possible to create a chart that combines scatter and line elements?
> > I am comparing actual salaries with market standards. I can chart these
> > separately. I've got a line chart showing the 25th, Median and 75th
> > quartile
> > salaries for the industry at 1, 2, 3, etc. years of experience. I can
> > also
> > create a nice scatter graph that plots time on the X- and salary on the
> > Y-axis. The trouble comes when I want to combine the two.
> > The source data for the line chart has three columns of data (salaries
> > under
> > each category), plus a fourth for data series labels (# of years, whole
> > numbers). While the source data for the scatter is just two columns: time
> > (fractions of years) and salary.
> > Is there a common solution for this objective? If so, what topics in
> > Excel
> > help should I read up on?
>
>
>