Charts — importance, types, creating and inserting charts

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. Look at a table of runs scored in every over of a cricket match. Hard to see who is winning, right? A chart shows it in one glance. Today we will learn why charts matter, the main chart types, and how to create and insert a chart in Calc.

A chart is a picture of data from your worksheet. It uses bars, lines or pie slices instead of rows of numbers. A chart in Calc is linked to its data. So if you change a number in the sheet, the chart changes by itself.

Why do we need charts at all? First, a chart lets you understand a lot of data at a glance. Second, it makes comparing values easy, like marks in five subjects. Third, it shows a trend, which means how something goes up or down over time, like monthly sales. Fourth, charts make reports and presentations attractive and easy to follow.

Let us learn the chart types one by one. A column chart shows data as standing, vertical bars, and it is the best choice to compare items, like marks of five subjects. A bar chart is the same idea turned sideways, with lying, horizontal bars. It works well when item names are long, like the names of states.

Two more very common types. A line chart joins data points with a line. It is best for a trend over time, like a city's temperature over a week. A pie chart is a circle cut into slices, and each slice shows a part of the whole. For example, how a family spends its monthly budget on rent, food and fees.

Calc has a few more types too. An area chart is a line chart with the space below it filled, showing how a total changes over time. An XY, or scatter, chart places dots on a grid, to see if two values are linked, like study hours and marks. A net chart looks like a spider web, and compares many qualities, like a player's batting, bowling and fielding.

Pause and predict. Pick a chart type for two sets of data. The first is the rainfall in each month of a year. The second is the share of each fuel in India's electricity. Answer: rainfall over months is a trend over time, so a line or column chart. Shares of one whole suit a pie chart.

Now let us create a chart. Here is our data in cells A1 to C5. The first column has subject names, English, Maths, Science and IT. Row one has the headings Subject, Riya and Aman. Column B has Riya's marks and column C has Aman's marks. We will compare them with a column chart.

Here are the steps to create and insert a chart. First, select the data, A1 colon C5, including the headings. Then open the Insert menu and click Chart, or click the Insert Chart button on the toolbar. The Chart Wizard dialog box opens, with a preview on the sheet. Go through its four steps and click Finish. The chart is now inserted on your worksheet.

The Chart Wizard has four steps. In step one, Chart Type, choose the type, and we pick Column. In step two, Data Range, check the cells and tick that the first row and first column are labels. In step three, Data Series, check each series, here Riya and Aman. In step four, Chart Elements, type a title like Marks of Term 1, and choose where the legend goes.

Let us name the parts of the finished chart. The chart title is the name on top, Marks of Term 1. The X axis is the bottom line, showing the subjects. The Y axis is the side line, showing marks from zero to one hundred. The legend is the colour key that tells which colour is Riya and which is Aman. A data series is the set of bars of one colour, like Riya's four bars.

Once the chart is on the sheet, you can still change it. Click it once, then drag to move it, or drag its corner handles to resize it. Double-click it to enter edit mode, where you can change the chart type, colours and title. Change a mark in the sheet, and its bar grows or shrinks by itself. To remove a chart, select it and press Delete.

Let us revise what we learned today. A chart is a picture of data, and it stays linked to the sheet. Charts help us compare values and see trends at a glance. A column chart compares, a line chart shows a trend, and a pie chart shows parts of a whole. To create one, select the data, then open Insert and click Chart. The Chart Wizard's four steps are chart type, data range, data series and chart elements. Make a chart of your own marks today.