Really geeky questi...
 

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[Closed] Really geeky question for a friday night

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Ok, got a set of data, gives the number of events in a time period, the time periods aren't even (some a month, soem 6 months, some inbetween).

How can I plot it as a histogram in works spreadhseet, it wont space the x-axis properly just plots the points at even intervals.

Any free graph plotting software available to do it?


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 7:32 pm
 Olly
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should be able to do it, right click the axis and check the settings?
[smug]im not on windows these days, so cant check for you [/smug]


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 7:35 pm
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"Thats a good question and I'm glad you asked that"

I'm sure in the graph settings on Excel you plot data in the center.


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 7:37 pm
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not in microsoft works, office yes, works no 🙁


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 7:38 pm
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YOu'll have to make some assumptions to help the histogram.

Do the time periods nest (i.e. do you have a 6 month period and also a 3 month period inside that 6 month window?) You could then layer the periods and define new bins and assume even distributions over the new bins.

If so, what Id do is create a calendar (with say month long bins - as many as you need to cover the full breadth of your periods) with a line for each data line in which you allocate evenly the events of the period defined for that line. Then sum the data for each small time bin and plot that on a histogram.


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 7:39 pm
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Just downloaded open office, still no histogram option 🙁

I just want it spaced out properly allong the x-axis and to plot the data series as line graphs (even bars would be fine!).

Stoner, any idea how to get it to do that automaticaly, theres a lot of data........


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 8:01 pm
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I think to create a proper histogram you'll need to download the analysis toolpack.


 
Posted : 03/09/2010 8:08 pm
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TINAS - pretty easy to do so long as you have your data in a form such as: Start Month, period duration, No. of events

You then just write a formula to distribute the events evenly through a new calendar array and then sum at the bottom of each calendar period. I could probably do it in less than a minute if you want to send me the data.


 
Posted : 04/09/2010 6:57 pm