stacked bar chart and a bit more...Excel 2003

Hi folks

i need one graph to show 2 things:

the x axis will show months (april to march). the y axis will show a % error
rate (ie. from 0 - 10%). so, for example, if i wanted to show 8% error rate
for march I'd have a column approx.80% of the height of the graph. Howewver
(and this is where i need the help), I want a stacked bar chart so the
column displays the numeric values of those errors (e.g. suppose the march
errors we 3x type a, 4x type b and 1x type c error).

In a nutshell the chart is supposed to show both the failure rate and
breakdown of errors over time....

I don't have XL at home, so can't test any solutions now but all help will
be gratefully received.

cheers
ali

You can't combine percentages and whole units on different series of the
same stacked chart. It doesn't make sense.

Can you convert the counts of the error types into proportions that add
to the error rate? For example, 30% type A, 40% type B, and 10% type C,
which add to 80%. Plot three series, A through C on a stacked column
chart (not stacked 100% column chart).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/



ali wrote:
Hi folks

i need one graph to show 2 things:

the x axis will show months (april to march). the y axis will show a %
error rate (ie. from 0 - 10%). so, for example, if i wanted to show 8%
error rate for march I'd have a column approx.80% of the height of the
graph. Howewver (and this is where i need the help), I want a stacked
bar chart so the column displays the numeric values of those errors
(e.g. suppose the march errors we 3x type a, 4x type b and 1x type c
error).

In a nutshell the chart is supposed to show both the failure rate and
breakdown of errors over time....

I don't have XL at home, so can't test any solutions now but all help
will be gratefully received.

cheers
ali

...convert the counts of the error types into proportions that add to the
error rate...

thanks Jon. that's a neat solution!

ali


"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
You can't combine percentages and whole units on different series of the
same stacked chart. It doesn't make sense.

Can you convert the counts of the error types into proportions that add to
the error rate? For example, 30% type A, 40% type B, and 10% type C, which
add to 80%. Plot three series, A through C on a stacked column chart (not
stacked 100% column chart).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/



ali wrote:
Hi folks

i need one graph to show 2 things:

the x axis will show months (april to march). the y axis will show a %
error rate (ie. from 0 - 10%). so, for example, if i wanted to show 8%
error rate for march I'd have a column approx.80% of the height of the
graph. Howewver (and this is where i need the help), I want a stacked bar
chart so the column displays the numeric values of those errors (e.g.
suppose the march errors we 3x type a, 4x type b and 1x type c error).

In a nutshell the chart is supposed to show both the failure rate and
breakdown of errors over time....

I don't have XL at home, so can't test any solutions now but all help
will be gratefully received.

cheers
ali

jon

whilst not wanting to quibble with your opening para, maybe i haven't been
clear with my problem definition.

if i have monthly error rates of 2% , 7%, 4% etc, which comprise of 5
errors, 9 errors and 7 errors respectively. then first months errors (5) may
consist of 3* type a and 2* type b.

It seems perfectly logical and reasonable to be able to display a column
that extends to a 2% vale on the y axis, and is itself split into 3/5 and
2/5 segments (at least i could easiy do this with pen and paper) ??

ali

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
You can't combine percentages and whole units on different series of the
same stacked chart. It doesn't make sense.

Can you convert the counts of the error types into proportions that add to
the error rate? For example, 30% type A, 40% type B, and 10% type C, which
add to 80%. Plot three series, A through C on a stacked column chart (not
stacked 100% column chart).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/



ali wrote:
Hi folks

i need one graph to show 2 things:

the x axis will show months (april to march). the y axis will show a %
error rate (ie. from 0 - 10%). so, for example, if i wanted to show 8%
error rate for march I'd have a column approx.80% of the height of the
graph. Howewver (and this is where i need the help), I want a stacked bar
chart so the column displays the numeric values of those errors (e.g.
suppose the march errors we 3x type a, 4x type b and 1x type c error).

In a nutshell the chart is supposed to show both the failure rate and
breakdown of errors over time....

I don't have XL at home, so can't test any solutions now but all help
will be gratefully received.

cheers
ali

Sure, no quibble. But your bar isn't 3 plus 2 errors equals 2%, it's
(3/5 * 2% = 1.2%) plus (2/5 * 2% = 0.8%) equals 2%.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/



ali wrote:
jon

whilst not wanting to quibble with your opening para, maybe i haven't
been clear with my problem definition.

if i have monthly error rates of 2% , 7%, 4% etc, which comprise of 5
errors, 9 errors and 7 errors respectively. then first months errors (5)
may consist of 3* type a and 2* type b.

It seems perfectly logical and reasonable to be able to display a column
that extends to a 2% vale on the y axis, and is itself split into 3/5
and 2/5 segments (at least i could easiy do this with pen and paper) ??

ali

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
You can't combine percentages and whole units on different series of
the same stacked chart. It doesn't make sense.

Can you convert the counts of the error types into proportions that
add to the error rate? For example, 30% type A, 40% type B, and 10%
type C, which add to 80%. Plot three series, A through C on a stacked
column chart (not stacked 100% column chart).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/



ali wrote:
Hi folks

i need one graph to show 2 things:

the x axis will show months (april to march). the y axis will show a
% error rate (ie. from 0 - 10%). so, for example, if i wanted to
show 8% error rate for march I'd have a column approx.80% of the
height of the graph. Howewver (and this is where i need the help), I
want a stacked bar chart so the column displays the numeric values of
those errors (e.g. suppose the march errors we 3x type a, 4x type
b and 1x type c error).

In a nutshell the chart is supposed to show both the failure rate and
breakdown of errors over time....

I don't have XL at home, so can't test any solutions now but all help
will be gratefully received.

cheers
ali