Error bars-repost

[NTE]

Reposting since I wasn't subscribed the first time....

Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3.
I have data that looks like this:
Median Min Max
Na 0.032617 0.000106 0.387142
Cl 0.0265 0.000017 0.282087
Ca 0.000524 0.0000047 0.0059883
K 0.005523 0.000007 0.038365
Mg 0.0000823 0.0000001 0.0018515
PO4 0.00031 0.00002 0.00105
HCO3 0.001655 0.000262 0.003048
I'm doing a line plot with the first column as the categorical x axis,
and the second column, median, on the y-axis, which is logarithmic. I
then set up error bars using the values in the min and max column
(columns 3 and 4 above) as custom values in the "error amount" part of
the format data series dialog. The max values would be for the plus
side of the error bar, and the min values are for the minus side.

I thought this would work perfectly, however, only the plus side of the
error bar is showing up, not the minus side. And in the format data
series dialog I DO have it set to show both.

So, I was wondering if anyone had run into this before, and if there is
a reason and a solution. I want the minus part of the error bars to
show.

Thank you,
Nicole

 

[Jon Peltier]

Scroll back to see my response to your other post.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

 

[vandenberg p]

The problem in this case is that the custom error bar expects
the values to be the "amount of the error" (see help file)
As I understand it your min and max are the upper and
lower limit of the values Min = Median - error and
Max = Median + error.

I changed the values so that Min is only the minus error
and Max is the positive error. The logarithmic line chart
worked perfectly.

Here are the values:

Median Minus Plus
Na 0.032617 0.032511 0.354525
Cl 0.0265 0.026483 0.255587
Ca 0.000524 0.0005193 0.0054643
K 0.005523 0.005516 0.032842
Mg 0.0000823 0.0000822 0.0017692
PO4 0.00031 0.00029 0.00074
HCO3 0.001655 0.001393 0.001393

The logarithmic scale worked because none of the
value went negative, some (Mg) came close.

Pieter Vandenberg

: Reposting since I wasn't subscribed the first time....

: Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3.
: I have data that looks like this:
: Median Min Max
: Na 0.032617 0.000106 0.387142
: Cl 0.0265 0.000017 0.282087
: Ca 0.000524 0.0000047 0.0059883
: K 0.005523 0.000007 0.038365
: Mg 0.0000823 0.0000001 0.0018515
: PO4 0.00031 0.00002 0.00105
: HCO3 0.001655 0.000262 0.003048
: I'm doing a line plot with the first column as the categorical x axis,
: and the second column, median, on the y-axis, which is logarithmic. I
: then set up error bars using the values in the min and max column
: (columns 3 and 4 above) as custom values in the "error amount" part of
: the format data series dialog. The max values would be for the plus
: side of the error bar, and the min values are for the minus side.

: I thought this would work perfectly, however, only the plus side of the
: error bar is showing up, not the minus side. And in the format data
: series dialog I DO have it set to show both.

: So, I was wondering if anyone had run into this before, and if there is
: a reason and a solution. I want the minus part of the error bars to
: show.

: Thank you,
: Nicole

 

[Jon Peltier]

In the more recent thread, Nicole learned that the error bars need to use
the difference, not the absolute minimum and maximum values. This cleared up
the problem.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______