Working with Charts

Introduction

A chart is a tool you can use in Excel to communicate your data graphically. Charts allow your audience to more easily see the meaning behind the numbers in the spreadsheet, and make showing comparisons and trends a lot easier. In this lesson, you will learn how to insert and modify Excel charts and see how they can be an effective tool for communicating information.

Creating a Chart

Charts can be a useful way to communicate data. When you insert a chart in Excel, it appears in the selected worksheet with the source data, by default.

To Create a Chart:

• Select the worksheet you want to work with. In this example, we use the Summary worksheet.
• Select the cells that you want to chart, including the column titles and the row labels.
• Click the Insert tab.
• Hover over each Chart option in the Charts group to learn more about it.
• Select one of the Chart options. In this example, we use the Columns command.
• Select a type of chart from the list that appears. For this example, we use a 2-D Clustered Column. The chart appears in the worksheet.

Identifying the Parts of a Chart

Have you ever read something you didn't fully understand but when you saw a chart or graph, the concept became clear and understandable? Charts are a visual representation of data in a worksheet. Charts make it easy to see comparisons, patterns, and trends in the data.

Source Data

The range of cells that make up a chart. The chart is updated automatically whenever the information in these cells change.

Title

The title of the chart.

Legend

The chart key, which identifies each color on the chart represents.

Axis

The vertical and horizontal parts of a chart. The vertical axis is often referred to as the Y axis, and the horizontal axis is referred to as the X axis.

Data Series

The actual charted values, usually rows or columns of the source data.

Value Axis

The axis that represents the values or units of the source data.

Category Axis

The axis identifying each data series.

Chart Tools

Once you insert a chart, a new set of Chart Tools, arranged into 3 tabs, will appear above the Ribbon. These are only visible when the chart is selected.

To Change the Chart Type:

• Select the Design tab.
• Click the Change Chart Type command. A dialog box appears.

• Select another chart type.
• Click OK.

The chart in the example compares each salesperson's monthly sales to his/her other month's sales; however you can change what is being compared. Just click the Switch Row/Column Data command, which will rotate the data displayed on the x and y axes. To return to the original view, click the Switch Row/Column command again.

To Change Chart Layout:

• Select the Design tab.
• Locate the Chart Layouts group.
• Click the More arrow to view all your layout options.

• Left-click a layout to select it.

If your new layout includes chart titles, axes, or legend labels, just insert your cursor into the text and begin typing to add your own text.

To Change Chart Style:

• Select the Design tab.
• Locate the Chart Style group.
• Click the More arrow to view all your style options.
• Left-click a style to select it.

To Move the Chart to a Different Worksheet:

• Select the Design tab.
• Click the Move Chart command. A dialog box appears. The current location of the chart is selected.
• Select the desired location for the chart (i.e., choose an existing worksheet, or select New Sheet and name it).

Using What-If Analysis

Introduction

The real power in Excel comes in its ability to perform multiple mathematical calculations for you. One of the tools in Excel that you can use to perform these calculations is a Data tool called What-If Analysis. What-If analysis allows you to see the effect that different values have in formulas. Have you ever thought, "What interest rate do I need to qualify for to have a car payment of $400 on the car I want?" This question can be answered using What-If Analysis.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use a What-If Analysis tool called Goal Seek.

Example

You need a loan to buy a new car. You know how much money you want to borrow, how long of a period you want to take to pay off the loan (the term), and what payment you can afford to make each month. But what you need to know is what interest rate you need to qualify for to make the payment $400 a month. In the image below, you can see that if you didn’t have interest and just divided this $20,000 into 60 monthly payments, you would pay $333.33 a month. The What-If Analysis tool will allow you to easily calculate the interest rate.

Where Did the Formula Come From?

The formula that appears in cell B5 in the example image is a function. It isn't part of the What-if Analysis tool, so you will need to understand functions thoroughly before you use What-if Analysis. For the example scenario described above, you need a formula that will calculate the monthly payment. Instead of writing the formula yourself, you can insert a function to do the calculation for you.

To Insert a Payment Function:

• Select the Formula tab.
• Click the Insert Function command. A dialog box appears.
• Select PMT.
• Click OK. A dialog box appears.
• Insert your cursor in the first field. A description about the needed information appears at the bottom of the dialog box.

• Select the cell in the spreadsheet with the needed information.
• Insert your cursor in the next field. A description about the needed information appears at the bottom of the dialog box.
• Select the cell in the spreadsheet with the needed information.
• Repeat the last two steps until all the necessary information is entered in the dialog box.
• Click OK.

What-If Analysis Tools

There are three What-If analysis tools that you can use. To access these, select the Data tab, and locate the What-If Analysis command. If you click this command, a menu with three options appears.

Goal seek is useful if you know the needed result, but need to find the input value that will give you the desired result. In this example, we know the desired result (a $400 monthly payment), and are seeking the input value (the interest rate).

Goal Seek

To Use Goal Seek to Determine an Interest Rate:

• Select the Data tab.
• Locate the Data Tools group.
• Click the What-If Analysis command. A list of three options appears.

• Select Goal Seek. A small dialog box appears.
• Select the cell that you what to set to a specific value. In this example, we want to set B5, the Payment cell.

• Insert the cursor in the next field.
• Enter a value in the value field. In this example, type -$400. Since we’re making a payment that will be subtracted from our loan amount, we have to enter the payment as a negative number.

• Insert the cursor in the next field.
• Select the cell that you want to change. This will be the cell that tries various input values. In this example, select cell B4, which is the interest rate.

• Click OK.
• Then, click OK again. The interest rate appears in the cell. This indicates that a 7% interest rate will give us a $400 a month payment on a $20,000 loan that is paid off over 5 years, or 60 months.