problem with scatter plot an the millennium

[PattiWagen]

I have been tacking several health stats over time since the 1980s and do a
scatter plot against time. I have noticed that it does fine going through
the year 2000, but after a certain range of source data, it starts plotting
from the year 1900 and bunches my data points on the right side of the
graph. (one of the graphs it is at 20 data points) I can reduce the source
data range from either end and the graph looks fine, but I am missing data.
This happens on excel 2002 and excel 2003. Is there some way to force the
graph to use a specific range -- say 1980-2010 rather than 1900 to 2023?

 

[Gord Dibben]

Windows allows only a 100-year span when interpreting 2-digits years.

Might help if you go into Regional Settings in Control Panel and change the
ending year for the century under Customize>Date "Interpret 2-digit years as
between"

Windows default is 1930-2029. You may have changed yours to some other value
like 1901-2001

If you enter dates using the full 4-digit year this setting should not pose a
problem.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[PattiWagen]

I do have the year enetered as a 4 digit value. This happens on 2 different
computers with 2 versions of office installed. I checked the control panel
and it had the correct 100 year span. Here is a sample of the years:
4/1/2005
4/24/2006
5/4/2007

Is there some way to send you the spreadsheet?