Where is independent variable on axis

However, there should be a reason why a particular curve is chosen. The legend becomes important when you are graphing more than one dependent variable. For example, your legend might indicate that green lines or bars represent rainfall in the tropics while brown lines or bars represent rainfall in the desert region. Colors or patterns should be used to help convey information, but should not be used simply for decoration. In the previous example, why were green and brown chosen?

If the colors were reversed, would this be better or worse? The type of data you are presenting may be better suited for one kind of graph than another. For example, if your measurements are periodic samples of an ongoing event, like rainfall each day, then a line with points helps to convey that message. If on the other hand, you are first averaging across distinct units of time like months, then bars might work better. If you are trying to visually display the pieces of a whole, a piechart might be a good choice.

Each point on the graph might represent a single data point, or the average of a collection of measurements at that point. In that case, it would be appropriate to express the range of variation around that point. Then you measure their arm spans the dependent variable.

Is a change in the independent variable related to a change in the dependent variable? To answer this question, you plot a graph with the independent variable along the x-axis and the dependent variable along the y-axis.

Your graph might look like this. The independent variable should be plotted on the x-axis. The dependent variable should be plotted on the y-axis. The graph of mass vs. The value of graphing this relationship is best understood by considering the following equation. If you need to plot data using Excel and analyze using linear regression, here is a helpful video. An independent variable is the variable you have control over, what you can choose and manipulate.

Example: You are interested in how stress affects heart rate in humans. Finally, data tables often contain many columns, so its important to figure out which ones belong on a graph.

Below, type "n" for data that will NOT be represented by either "x" or "y". Table of Contents Prequiz Choose your x and y carefully To make this interactive, turn on javascript! You are following the crime rate in Columbus, MS, over the past year.

You are counting the number of crimes in each month. You take all the crimes in Columbus, MS, in the past year and classify them according to type murder, robbery, assault, etc. You are comparing three different cold remedies. You have volunteers with colds take one of the remedies and you measure how much longer the cold lasts after taking the medicine. Licenses and Attributions.