Logarithmic graphs in Excel

[BigDaddyCool]

Hello! I have some Excel data that lists the United States' Gross Domestic
Product for each year from 1890 to 2000. The data looks like this:

1890 260.42
1891 271.87
1892 298.51

....

1998 8495.65
1999 8848.225
2000 9156.6

I wanted to turn this data into a groovy looking line graph, so I tried
using Excel's built-in Chart Wizard, but the resulting graph looks WAY too
much like an exponential curve (not to mention the fact that it really
doesn't all that good), so I want to turn it into a logarithmic graph. How
can I accomplish this?

 

[Jon Peltier]

Double click the Y axis, and on the Scale tab, check the Logarithmic Scale
box.

- Jon

 

[BigDaddyCool]

You rock.

Is there any way I can put one of those zig-zaggy axis things signaling a
break in the Y-axis? My Y-axis starts at 100, but I want it to start at 1,
but if I start it at 1, my line doesn't start until like two-thirds up my
graph. So there's all this empty space near the bottom. I just think that if
my Y-axis starts at 100 it will look confusing to my students. Is there
anything can be done?

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Check this page on Jon's site.
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/BrokenYAxis.html

Cheers
Andy