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- Jul 15, 2008
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I just don't seem to be able to plot what I want. My data is gas or electricity meter readings. The first column is the date of the reading, the second and third columns the corresponding actual or estimated reading respectively. (Actual readings are ones taken by me or the supplier. Estimates are the supplier's ones shown on the bill when I have failed to submit one myself.)
From this table, I want to plot two series on the same line chart: actual readings and estimated readings. The X-axis (category axis) is the reading dates. The Y-axis (value) is the readings.
Example:
[font="].......A.............B..........C
.1...Date.........Actual......Estimate
.2..02/01/06......27845
.3..02/04/06......36067
.4..02/07/06......37677
.5..02/10/06......39944
.6..02/01/07..................44824
.7..02/04/07......45678
[/font]
[font="].8..02/07/07......46789
.9..02/10/07......47123
10..02/01/08..................48001
11..02/04/08..................49200
12..02/07/07......49290
[/font]
What I want to appear are two separate lines, one for the actuals and another for the estimates. When I try, the data points are all shown, with separate colours for the actuals (blue) and the estimates (pink) - that is fine - but I would expect to see two complete series lines: a blue one joining all the actual readings, and a separate pink one joining all the estimates. However the lines are broken whenever the reading changes from actual to estimate or vice versa, so there is no blue line joining the points for B5 and B7, for example, nor B9 and B12, and the only pink line is that joining C10 and C11. If I could just get a continuous line for all the actual readings, with the pink dots (estimates) scattered around it, that would be something, but I cannot even achieve that.
I have tried various things, including putting the actuals and estimates in the same column and selecting the individual values for each of the two series (that gave even worse results - too complicated to explain), and I have also tried separating the actuals and estimates into completely separate sets of rows (separate tables effectively), all to no avail.
I think the problem lies in the fact that a common X-axis is being used for two series, and no dates are ever shared of course. All the examples of such charts I have seen in tutorials have a value in each series for each date used (e.g. viewing figures for different TV series for a set of given dates). My data doesn't look like that; dates occur in one series or the other.
Any help? It's driving me nuts.
By the way, it's an old Excel (2000) but it should work.
From this table, I want to plot two series on the same line chart: actual readings and estimated readings. The X-axis (category axis) is the reading dates. The Y-axis (value) is the readings.
Example:
[font="].......A.............B..........C
.1...Date.........Actual......Estimate
.2..02/01/06......27845
.3..02/04/06......36067
.4..02/07/06......37677
.5..02/10/06......39944
.6..02/01/07..................44824
.7..02/04/07......45678
[/font]
[font="].8..02/07/07......46789
.9..02/10/07......47123
10..02/01/08..................48001
11..02/04/08..................49200
12..02/07/07......49290
[/font]
What I want to appear are two separate lines, one for the actuals and another for the estimates. When I try, the data points are all shown, with separate colours for the actuals (blue) and the estimates (pink) - that is fine - but I would expect to see two complete series lines: a blue one joining all the actual readings, and a separate pink one joining all the estimates. However the lines are broken whenever the reading changes from actual to estimate or vice versa, so there is no blue line joining the points for B5 and B7, for example, nor B9 and B12, and the only pink line is that joining C10 and C11. If I could just get a continuous line for all the actual readings, with the pink dots (estimates) scattered around it, that would be something, but I cannot even achieve that.
I have tried various things, including putting the actuals and estimates in the same column and selecting the individual values for each of the two series (that gave even worse results - too complicated to explain), and I have also tried separating the actuals and estimates into completely separate sets of rows (separate tables effectively), all to no avail.
I think the problem lies in the fact that a common X-axis is being used for two series, and no dates are ever shared of course. All the examples of such charts I have seen in tutorials have a value in each series for each date used (e.g. viewing figures for different TV series for a set of given dates). My data doesn't look like that; dates occur in one series or the other.
Any help? It's driving me nuts.
By the way, it's an old Excel (2000) but it should work.
