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I am doing the Google HashCode practice and I would like to visualize some data. I thought of using Excel for this. Example data:

Earliest start: 186, 208, 228, 244, 281
Distance of ride: 479, 969, 482, 1011, 372

Time steps are from 1 to 25'000 in general (in the sample data you see only the beginning).

I explain the data that I want to visualize: The first column has earliest start time at step 186 and a distance of 479. A time step and unit of distance are equivalent in this case.

So the ride starts at time 186 and lasts for 479 steps. Finish would be at time/step 665.

So I thought of visualizing each ride (ride number 1,2,3,4,5,....) on the y-axis and each start and distance as a line along the x-axis.

I have no idea how to do that in Excel. I tried to fiddle around but I fail to understand how to choose the data range appropriately unfortunately.

I would appreciate if someone can help me with this.

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    Start with selecting all your data then go to Insert -> chart, explore and play around with the different chart types and get back to us if/when you have more questions
    – cybernetic.nomad
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 17:16
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    Also, graphs typically plot a dependent variable on the y-axis vs an independent variable on the x-axis. Excel assumes the independent variable is the first column of the data. So the structure of your data table will affect how the graph looks. You probably want ride number on the x-axis. You could create a column graph where the height of the bars would represent start time and distance. And there are many other possibilities. Try various graphs and check in back here as @cyber suggested.
    – Bandersnatch
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 17:44
  • Note: Excel's "bar" graph has horizontal bars rather than vertical bars as in the "column" graph. For that graph, the y-axis is the independent variable.
    – Bandersnatch
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 17:48
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    I think you want a stacked bar chart to visualize the way I think you want.
    – Geoduck
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 18:46

1 Answer 1

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If this is the type of chart you are looking for, it is quite easy in Excel.

  • Use 3 columns: Ride #, Start, Distance.
  • select all the data
  • On the Insert menu in Excel, click on the Bar Chart icon and choose the "2-D Stacked Bar".
  • You should get a chart that looks a lot like this, but we still need to hide the first part of the bar. So, right-click on chart and choose "Format Chart Area..."
  • Click on "Plot Area Options" and choose Series 1
  • Set Fill to No Fill and Border to No Line

enter image description here

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  • That's a very nice graph, but his "start" data are times.
    – Bandersnatch
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 4:32
  • Actually that is perfectly what I needed. I was not clear in my question maybe, but a time unit and a distance can be considered to be equivalent. This is exactly what I trie to do. Thank you Mr. Godfrey.
    – Ely
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 11:01

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