8.3 Line and Area Charts
Line – trends over time (many periods). Area – trend plus the size of the total; stacked area shows how parts contribute over time.
Worked example. Line chart of Pune, Nashik and Nagpur sales Jul–Dec: the two peaks (Sep, Nov) are obvious. Add a Trendline (+ › Trendline › Linear) on Pune to show the underlying growth, or a 2-period moving average to smooth festival spikes.
Steps in Excel
- Select A1:D7 › Insert › Charts › Line or Area › Line with Markers.
- Highlight Pune: format the Pune line thicker and dark green; make the others light grey.
- Label the last point only: click the Dec point twice › + › Data Label.
- For gaps in data: Chart Design › Select Data › Hidden and Empty Cells › Show empty cells as Gaps / Zero / Connect with line.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Many students make the mistake of using a line chart for categories (cities) – how can there be a "line" from Pune to Nashik? A line is only for things that come in sequence (time). And if you put 6–7 lines in one chart, it becomes "spaghetti" – highlight one or two and make the rest grey.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip – मराठी
Categories (cities) साठी line chart वापरण्याची चूक बरेच students करतात – Pune ते Nashik मध्ये "line" कशी? Line फक्त क्रमाने येणाऱ्या गोष्टींसाठी (time). आणि एकाच chart मध्ये 6-7 lines टाकल्या तर "spaghetti" होते – एक-दोन highlight करा, बाकी grey.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip – हिंदी
Categories (cities) के लिए line chart इस्तेमाल करने की गलती बहुत से students करते हैं – Pune से Nashik के बीच "line" कैसी? Line सिर्फ़ क्रम से आने वाली चीज़ों (time) के लिए है. और एक ही chart में 6-7 lines डाल दीं तो "spaghetti" बन जाती है – एक-दो को highlight करो, बाकी grey.
Practice task
Create a line chart for the three cities, highlight Pune, add a linear trendline and label only the last point of each line.