Plot Type Descriptions

The Plot Type Descriptions are displayed in the Graph Wizard - Select Plot Type dialog. The Plot Type Description dialog displays a table of all the available plot types with a short description of the data required to create the plot and of the plot appearance. The Plot Type Description dialog can be used to determine which plot type will best represent your data. The Plot Type column indicates the plot type name in the Graph Wizard, and the Description column includes the description text that is displayed when the plot is selected.

The following tables present the same information, but present the plots in various groups to help you determine the best plot type for your data:

XY Plots

The most common and flexible type of plot, these two-variable plots can be used to present correlation, display change over time, or analyze relationships between variables. Some line/scatter type plots include a third variable for proportional sizing or classification, and some bar plots include a third variable to indicate the bar start and end. The High-Low-Close plot is typically used for stock data and displays multiple Y values at each X.

Plot Type	Description
Bar Horizontal	This plot displays XY data as bars at location Y that extend horizontally from a base value to the X data value.
Bar Horizontal, 3D	This plot displays XY data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, that extend horizontally from a base value to the X data value.
Bar Horizontal, 3D Floating	This plot displays XXY data as 3D shapes that extend horizontally from the first X value to the second X value.
Bar Horizontal, Floating	This plot displays XXY data as bars at location Y that extend horizontally from the first X value to the second X value.
Bar Vertical	This plot displays XY data as bars at location X that extend vertically from a base value to the Y data value.
Bar Vertical, 3D	This plot displays XY data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, that extend vertically from a base value to the Y data value.
Bar Vertical, 3D Floating	This plot displays XYY data as 3D shapes that extend vertically from the first Y value to the second Y value.
Bar Vertical, Floating	This plot displays XYY data as bars at location Z that extend vertically from the first Y value to the second Y value.
Bubble	This plot displays XYZ data as bubbles, where XY values specify the bubble center and Z controls the bubble size.
Class Scatter	This plot displays XYZ data as points, where XY values specify point locations and points are classified by Z value.
High-Low-Close	This plot displays a range of Y values at each X value as lines. It is typically used to display Open, High, Low, and Close stock prices.
High-Low-Close Candlestick	This plot displays a range of Y values at each X value as candlesticks, typically used to display Open, High, Low, and Close stock prices.
Line	This plot displays XY data connected by a line.
Line/Scatter	This plot displays XY data as points with a connecting line.
Polar Bar	This plot displays Angle and Radius data as bars that extend from a base value to the radius value in polar coordinates.
Polar Class Scatter	This plot displays Angle, Radius, and Z data as a scatterplot in polar coordinates where points are classified by Z value.
Polar Line	This plot displays Angle and Radius data connected by a line in polar coordinates.
Polar Line/Scatter	This plot displays Angle and Radius data as points with a connecting line in polar coordinates.
Polar Scatter	This plot displays Angle and Radius data as points in polar coordinates.
Ribbon	This plot displays XY data as a line plot with depth to appear as a three-dimensional ribbon.
Scatter	This plot displays XY data as points.
Step	This plot displays XY data points connected by a line where the connecting line is drawn parallel to the axes.
Step, 3D	This plot displays XY data as a step plot with depth to appear as a 3D ribbon.
Wall, 3D	This plot displays XY data as a line plot with depth to appear as a 3D wall.

XYZ Plots

These plots are similar to XY plots, but include a third variable and dimension. They also may include a fourth variable for proportional sizing or classification.

Plot Type	Description
Bar Horizontal, XYZ	This plot displays XYZ data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, at YZ locations extending horizontally from a base value to the X value.
Bar Horizontal, XYZ Floating	This plot displays XXYZ data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, at YZ locations extending horizontally from the first X value to the second X value.
Bar Vertical, XYZ	This plot displays XYZ data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, at XZ locations extending vertically from a base value to the Y value.
Bar Vertical, XYZ Floating	This plot displays XYYZ data as 3D shapes, such as boxes, at XZ locations extending vertically from the first Y value to the second Y value.
Bubble, XYZ	This plot displays XYZC data as 3D bubbles where XYZ describes bubble position, and the bubbles are scaled by C value.
Class Scatter, XYZ	This plot displays XYZC data as points where XYZ describes point location, and the points are classified by C value.
Line/Scatter, XYZ	This plot displays XYZ data as a line, line/scatter, or scatter plot in three-dimensional space.

Categorical Plots

Categorical plots display quantities (bar) or proportions (pie/doughnut) of a data value for various categories. The radar plot displays multivariate qualitative data.

Plot Type	Description
Bar Horizontal, Category	This plot displays categorical X data as bars that extend from a base value to the X data value with category labels along the Y axis.
Bar Vertical, Category	This plot displays categorical Y data as bars that extend from a base value to the Y data value with category labels along the X axis.
Doughnut	This plot displays data as proportional slices of circle with a hole in the center.
Doughnut, 3D	This plot displays data as proportional slices of a cylinder with a hole in the center.
Pie	This plot displays data as proportional slices of a circle.
Pie, 3D	This plot displays data as proportional slices of a cylinder.
Radar	This plot, also called a spider plot, displays multivariate quantitative data as a polygon with an equi-angular axis for each variable.

Statistical Plots

Statistical plots display the distribution of a variable. Histograms present the distribution by binning the data values and displaying the bin quantities. Box-whisker plots graphically display statistical information about one or more distributions. Q-Q plots compare distributions to one another or to the normal distribution. The Polar Wind Chart displays the distributions of two separate variables in a single chart.

Plot Type	Description
Box Horizontal	This plot displays the distribution of one or more datasets as horizontal boxes with whiskers.
Box Horizontal, Notched	This plot displays the distribution of one or more data sets as notched horizontal boxes with whiskers.
Box Vertical	This plot displays the distribution of one or more datasets as vertical boxes with whiskers.
Box Vertical, Notched	This plot displays the distribution of one or more data sets as notched vertical boxes with whiskers.
Histogram Horizontal	This plot displays the distribution of a dataset as bars where frequency is on the X axis and bin values are on the Y axis.
Histogram Horizontal, 3D	This plot displays the distribution of a dataset as 3D shapes where frequency is on the X axis and bin values are on the Y axis.
Histogram Vertical	This plot displays the distribution of a dataset as bars where frequency is on the Y axis and bin values are on the X axis.
Histogram Vertical, 3D	This plot displays the distribution of a dataset as 3D shapes where frequency is on the Y axis and bin values are on the X axis.
Polar Rose	This plot displays the distribution of a dataset as bars where frequency is on the radius axis and bins are on the angular axis.
Polar Wind	This plot displays the distribution of Direction data as bars where frequency is on the radius axis and bars are grouped by Speed.
Q-Q	This plot displays the quantiles of two probability distributions against one another as points with a y=x line.
Q-Q, Normal	This plot displays the quantiles of a probability distribution against the normal distribution as points with a y=x line.

Composition Plots

The stiff, ternary, and piper diagrams typically describe the chemical composition of systems. In some ternary and piper diagrams, a data column can be used for proportional scaling or classification.

Plot Type	Description
Piper	This plot displays ionic composition of a water sample or samples in cation and anion ternary plots and a diamond plot.
Piper Class Scatter	This plot displays ionic composition of a water sample or samples in cation and anion ternary plots and a diamond plot with classified symbols.
Stiff	This plot displays cation and anion concentrations as points with a connecting line where concentration is on the horizontal axis.
Ternary Bubble	This plot displays XYZC data as bubbles where XYZ are proportions in a three-component system and the bubbles are scaled by C value.
Ternary Class Scatter	This plot displays XYZC data as points where XYZ are proportions in a three-component system and the point is classified by C value.
Ternary Line	This plot displays XYZ data as a line where XYZ are proportions in a three-component system.
Ternary Line/Scatter	This plot displays XYZ data as points with a connecting line where XYZ are proportions in a three-component system.
Ternary Scatter	This plot displays XYZ data as points where XYZ are proportions in a three-component system.

Function Plots (no data)

Function plots require no data and create a plot from a mathematical function.

Plot Type	Description
Function Parametric	This plot displays mathematical functions as a line where the values of X and Y are a function of the variable T.
Function Parametric, 3D	This plot displays a mathematical function as a 3D ribbon where the values of X and Y are a function of the variable T.
Function X=F(Y)	This plot displays a mathematical function as a line where the value of X is a function of the variable Y.
Function X=F(Y), 3D	This plot displays a mathematical function as a 3D ribbon where the value of X is a function of the variable Y.
Function Y=F(X)	This plot displays a mathematical function as a line where the value of Y is a function of the variable X.
Function Y=F(X), 3D	This plot displays a mathematical function as a 3D ribbon where the value of Y is a function of the variable X.
Polar Function	This plot displays a mathematical function as a line where the value of R (radius) is a function of the variable A (angle).
Polar Function Parametric	This plot displays a mathematical function as a line where the values of R (radius) and A (angle) are a function of the variable T.

Vector Plots

Vector plots show magnitudes at a position or movement from one position to another. Grapher includes 2D and 3D vector plots and includes both Cartesian and polar coordinates.

Plot Type	Description
Polar Vector 1-Point	This plot displays polar coordinate data as vectors defined by vector origin Angle and Radius and vector Direction and Magnitude.
Polar Vector 2-Point	This plot displays polar coordinate data as vectors defined by vector origin Angle and Radius and vector end Angle and Radius.
Vector 1-Point	This plot displays XYDM data as vectors where XY describes vector origin and Direction and Magnitude describe the vector.
Vector 2-Point	This plot displays XYXY data as vectors where the first XY pair describes the vector origin and the second XY pair describes the vector end.
Vector XYZ-DX,DY,DZ	This plot displays XYZdXdYdZ data as vectors where vector origins are described by XYZ, and vectors are described by dXdYdZ.
Vector XYZ 2-Point	This plot displays XYZXYZ data as vectors where vector origins are the first XYZ values, and vector ends are the second XYZ values.

Maps

These plots present XYZ data or mathematical functions as maps or surfaces.

Plot Type	Description
Contour Data, XY	This plot displays XYZ data as an XY map with lines of constant Z.
Contour Data, XZ	This plot displays XYZ data as an XY map with lines of constant Z rotated onto the XZ plane.
Contour Function, XY	This plot displays a mathematical function as an XY map with lines of constant Z where Z is a function of the variables X and Y.
Contour Function, XZ	This plot displays a mathematical function as an XZ map with lines of constant Y, where Y is a function of variables X and Z.
Surface Data	This plot displays XYZ data as a 3D surface.
Surface Function	This plot displays a mathematical function as a 3D surface where Y is a function of the variables X and Z.