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Excel Tutorial Mac f19

This document provides a step-by-step guide for creating a Mass vs Volume graph in Excel, including how to select data, format titles and axes, and add a trendline. It explains the importance of displaying the correct x-axis data, adding descriptive titles, and removing unnecessary legends. Additionally, it covers using the LINEST function to calculate statistical information about the linear relationship, such as slope and intercept standard deviations.

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4 views

Excel Tutorial Mac f19

This document provides a step-by-step guide for creating a Mass vs Volume graph in Excel, including how to select data, format titles and axes, and add a trendline. It explains the importance of displaying the correct x-axis data, adding descriptive titles, and removing unnecessary legends. Additionally, it covers using the LINEST function to calculate statistical information about the linear relationship, such as slope and intercept standard deviations.

Uploaded by

svfqcqz98m
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Exercise #2: Graphing in Excel

Graphs are used in science for both data analysis and for presenting results. In this exercise, you
will use Excel to:
• Create a graph of Mass vs Volume for your data
• Add and format a title and axis labels
• Display a best-fit line and equation for your data

Creating a graph in Excel


Just as there are multiple ways to do calculations, there are different ways to create a graph.
Here, you will create a graph of Mass vs Volume. Start by selecting your mass data. Now, at the
top of the Excel interface, select the Insert tab, which will display a new set of tools.

You are going to create a scatter plot for this graph, but you can see
that there are different types of graphs which you can make in Excel,
such as bar graphs and pie charts. Select the Scatter Graph Tool and
choose the ‘Scatter’ option as shown in the image to the right.
Your graph will show up as a separate window and should look
similar to the one below:

There are a number of problems with this graph. First of all, we did not include data for the x-
axis. Currently, the masses are plotted vs sample number. Also, there are no axis-labels, the title
is not descriptive and there is a legend which is unnecessary for this plot.

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First, we will take care of the missing x-axis
information. Select any of the data points on the graph,
which will select all points in the data set. Right click
on one of the data points and choose ‘Select data’ from
the drop down menu. Using the dialogue box which
opens, you can edit the data plotted in the graph. Select
the data from the Legend Entries (Series) box on the left.
There are three entry boxes on the right: Name, X values
and Y values. We want to input the Volume data into
the X values box. By selecting the button highlighted in
the picture to the right, you can select the volume data
directly from your spreadsheet with your
mouse/trackpad. Click on the button at the right of the
entry box and you will be returned to the Select Data
Source dialogue box and hit OK. Your graph should
now have the correct values on the x-axis.

Adding and Formatting Titles and Axes

(The Layout Tab may not appear in all versions of Excel for Mac. If you don’t see a Layout Tab,
click on the Chart Design Tab and then Quick Layout in the upper left corner. You can select one
of the options in Quick Layouts and then edit your graph from there.)
Begin by choosing the Layout Tab to display the layout tools. The Layout Tab is not present
unless the graph is selected. If you would like to edit the scale or appearance of either the x or y-
axis, you can do so by selecting the ‘Axes’ button. To add axis-labels, select the ‘Axis Titles’ tool
and choose either the x (horizontal) or y (vertical) axis. At this point, add suitable titles for your x
and y-axis. Display the x-axis below the graph and the y-axis as a Rotated Title. Once the titles
appear on the graph, you can select them with your mouse and edit the text and font as you prefer.
Make sure you include the units within parentheses in your axis-labels.
Add or edit the title of the graph using the ‘Chart Title’ tool. Display an appropriate title above
the graph. Edit the font as you wish.

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For graphs with multiple series of data, it makes sense to show a legend. For this graph, there is
only one series of data and the legend is unnecessary. You can delete the legend by selecting it
and simply pressing the delete button.

Adding a Trendline to a Graph


A trend-line or best-fit line is used to show the mathematical relationship displayed in the graph.
A trend-line can be linear, exponential, inverse, polynomial, etc… Your graph shows data for
Mass vs Volume which is a linear relationship. To add a trend-line, select your data by clicking
on one of the data points. Right-click and select ‘Add Trendline’ from the drop-down menu. A
trend-line has been added to your graph and the ‘Format Trendline’ Dialogue box has been opened.
Choose the appropriate Trend/Regression Type, which for this graph is ‘Linear.’ Since a cylinder
with volume of 0 mL will have a mass of 0 g, we know that the y-intercept should be 0 for this
graph. Select ‘Set Intercept’ and change it to 0.0 if it is some other value. To display the linear
equation and thus the mathematical relationship between Mass and Volume, select ‘Display
Equation on chart.’ R2 is a statistical measure of how closely the equation fits the data. For a
perfect fit, R2 = 1. Choose the option to display R2 on your graph.
The equation shown on your graph is written in the form y = mx + b. You can re-write this
equation in terms of mass and volume to show that the slope of the graph is equal to density. The
value of the slope determined from the trend-line should match the average slope which you
calculated in Exercise #1.

Statistical Information of Linear Data: the LINEST Function


From your trendline, you have the average values of the slope and intercept. To accurately report
error, you may also need to know the standard deviation of the slope and/or intercept. To fine
these values, you can use the LINEST Function:

Select an array of cells, five rows


deep by two columns wide to accept
the values from the LINEST
function.

This array can be larger, but cannot


be smaller than 5 X 2 !

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From the Formulas tab, choose ‘Insert Function’ and a menu box will open. In the search box,
type ‘LINEST’ and click ‘Insert Function’.

The LINEST menu needs both the values of y and x as well as some preferences. Select the ranges
of the y and x values.

Setting Const and Stats:


Const: Set as TRUE if the y-intercept should be a NON-zero value
Set as FALSE If the value of the y-intercept should be equal to zero
Stats: Set as TRUE to return statistical information about the results

For this exercise: set both Const and Stats to TRUE as shown below:

If you click on OK or hit Enter/Return at this


point, only the value of the slope will appear
on your data page (image below on the left)!
Your results will look like the image on the
right:

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This is because LINEST is an array function that must be called by simultaneously
pressing CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER (or COMMAND-SHIFT-ENTER depending on your
version of Excel)! After you have filled out the categories above, click on the formula
that has been filled out in the fx bar from the home tab that is just above the lettered
columns. Then press (and hold) command, shift, and enter at the same time.

slope intercept

Standard deviation Standard deviation of


of slope intercept

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