Excel is a powerful tool that you can use to create charts and graphs for small or large amounts of data. In this Excel tutorial, I’ll show you how to take a small set of data and create a simple bar graph, along with the options you have to customize the graph.

You probably already know how to do standard graphs in Excel. Sometimes, you'll need to take it up another level and do logarithmical or semi-logarithmical graphs.

Properly made graphs can give a concise and compact form of representation, while graphs made poorly can be misleading and very confusing. Why use logarithmical graphs? If you find yourself with data spread on an extremely large area, the graph will be very compact and you may miss some sharp drops in values because of this. A semi-logarithmical graph is has one of the two axes (usually the abscissa) in a logarithmical form.

The logarithmical base is usually 10, but can also be “e” or any other base. Well let's suppose you have the following table: X 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1000 2000 Y 1 2 4 16 256 65536 4.29E+09 1.84E+19 3.4E+38 1.16E+77 1.3E+154 The corresponding Excel scatter chart is this: On the other hand, if you extract the logarithm of both X and Y rows you get this table: log_x 0 0.3 0.7 1 1.3 1.7 2 2.3 2.7 3 3.3 log_y 0 0.3 0.6 1.2 2.41 4.82 9.63 19.27 38.53 77.06 154.13 And its corresponding graph. Har har Very interesting. I never thought logarithmic scales would lighten up my life;). Posted by SunBeam on March 20, 2006 at 10:19 PM.

Tip Just remember to use the normal values when you select source for the graphic, Excel does the log operation for you. Posted by Mika on March 21, 2006 at 06:18 AM. Hello, sort anoob here hello ladies and gents! I've been kind of lurking around. I love this site! Thanks for having me:) Posted by Nanbe1st on October 16, 2006 at 10:49 AM.

Thanks you just made my day thanks so much for your help i was able to find this site on the 1st page of google assignment done!:D Posted by mr.mackey on January 24, 2007 at 07:17 AM. Y crossing point How can I have the Y axis cross the X axis at its MINIMAL value (X axis being logarithmic)? Thanks in advance Posted by anne on March 5, 2007 at 04:06 PM. Limitations of logarithmic graphs in Excel Unfortunately Excel is only able to use powers of ten as minimum and maximum values of the logarithmic axes.

But logarithmic scaling is not only useful for a wide data range. It is very convenient if data graphs become descriptive, i.e. If exponential data becomes a straight line.

If this data is spread over less than one, or two decades, the limitation to powers of ten reduces the perceptibility of the graph. Erich Posted by Erich on March 21, 2007 at 09:21 AM. Double logarithmic scales I've wondered how to make double logarithmic scales?!

Posted by Jeppe on March 23, 2007 at 03:12 PM. Graphing Dilemna I'm trying to graph values in log scale, and when I check the box to do so, the dates on the x-axis move up to the top of the chart, and I can't find the option to have them appear on the bottom. Posted by Derek on July 13, 2007 at 02:26 PM. Hello There 20-04 20-06 2006-07 MOT 371,71 408,59 514,97 582,54 700,97 DBT 38,40 45,79 57,99 70,02 92,97 HSS 10,35 10,92 10,37 10,38 11,29 ICPR 0,75 0,83 0,72 0,75 0,78 DIF 88,30 93,61 120,65 160,98 197,72 Whenever I make graph from above mentioned data and adjust log scaling as 0, 1000, 10, 10, 0 and check logarithmic scale, it automatically changes into 0.1, 1000, 10, 10, 1 and check logarithmic scale. Could you please help me. Thanks & regards, LA Posted by LUX on November 1, 2007 at 10:28 AM. Possible solution You can try to use point (.) instead of (,) when you write numbers, it might consider those are different numbers.