excel graph problem with axis scale

J

jkap123

am facing yet another time-consuming challenge with excel-

made a line graph of hemoglobin level (on vertical axis) vs day (horizontal axis.)

the day value for each hemoglobin value is actually an average of many different patients, so for each hemoglobin value plotted, there's a corresponding day, which could, b/c it's an average, could be 1.8 or 2.4, for example, rather than a simple integer. fine.
it gives me a nice looking graph, but they interval between each day value (on x-axis) is evenly distributed.

for example-

_____x______x_______x______x

0____1.8____2.05____2.2____3.4

so, i want to change the scale of the x-axis, so that it shows evenly spaced marks on the axis (as it already is doing,) but with each mark labeled as 0,1,2,3,4, etc, rather than 0,1.8,2.05,2.2,3.4 and then of course place each data point in the appropriate spot.

so i clicked on the horizontal axis, opened up the format x-axis window, went to "scale." i change from "automatic" to "date."
so the appearance of the graph immediately changes to what i want it to change to, perfect. BUT, the format x-axis window is still open and won't allow me to exit. when i try to exit, i get a message saying that the "entry used is invalid for the data used by this chart." no matter what i do, it won't allow me to keep this new graph.

what is so frustrating about this, is that it actually is giving me what i want but won 't let me keep it. what the hell???? it's capable of doing what i'm asking and actually does it but then won't let me keep it??? i've never seen anything like this before.
 
C

Carl Witthoft

Did you specify "scatter plot" as the graph type?
My suspicion is you didn't, as this is a common error made by most
everyone when they first learn about Excel graphs. The "line plot" and
all the other standard types are doo-doo, which is to say they are
really bar charts in disguise.
Only the "scatter plot" actually plots the X-axis based on data values
instead of so-called categories (i.e., treating the X-data as a list of
strings).
 

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