ASU College of Business

Quantitative Management
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Plotting a Histogram in Excel

Basic Chart Creation

• Data need to have been summarized in frequency table
  • Must have at least
    • Column of text labels for horizontal axis
    • Column of relative frequency values
  • Example:  refer to illustration in Basic Excel Functions and Formulae
• Select the range of values to be charted
  • For histograms, these are indicated by the vertical axis
  • Thus, we're plotting the relative frequencies
  • In the example:  values in "Relative Frequency" column (H21 through H27)
    • Click left mouse button on H21 and hold down
    • Drag through H27
• Click on ChartWizard button on the tool bar
• In the ChartWizard dialog box
  • Select type of chart:
    • Column for histograms
    • Click on Next when done
  • Designate horizontal axis:
    • Click on Series tab
    • Click on right end of Category (X) axis labels box
      • Select range of values to be indicated on the horizontal axis
      • In the example:  values in "Label" column (I21 through I27)
    • Press the Enter key
    • Click on Next when done
  • Create titles for axes and overall chart:
    • Click on Title tab
    • Fill in the input boxes with the appropriate titles and axis labels
  • Click on the Legend tab and uncheck the Show legend box
  • Click on Finish
• Move and resize the chart as appropriate:
  • Select the chart (i.e., click on a blank area in the bottom right portion of the chart)
  • In the example:
    • Move mouse pointer over a blank area on the chart until the pointer becomes an arrow
    • Drag chart to region below frequency table (i.e., click and hold left mouse button, then drag chart to desired location)
    • Drag top left corner of chart to top left corner of cell C29 and bottom right corner of chart to bottom left corner of cell I52
• Save your work

Chart Editing

• Connect frequency bars:
  • Right click on any of the frequency bars
  • Select Format Data Series
  • Click on the Options tab
  • Set GapWidth to 0
  • Click on OK
• Change fonts as appropriate:
  • Titles and labels
    • Main title:  largest
    • X and Y axis titles:  next largest
    • X and Y axis labels:  smallest
  • Procedure
    • Right click on item to be changed
    • Select "Format . . . "
    • Click on Font tab
    • Adjust point Size
    • Click on OK
• Format vertical axis labels
  • Right click on vertical axis
  • Select Format Axis
  • Click on Number tab
  • Select Percentage from the Category box and then type 0 in the Decimal Places box
  • Click on OK
• Format vertical axis labels
  • Right click on vertical axis
  • Select Format Axis
  • Click on Number tab
  • Select Number from the Category box and then type 0 in the Decimal Places box
  • Click on OK
• Save your work

This page last updated 09/23/03
Please submit any comments, corrections, etc. about this document to John Seydel

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