8.3 Line and Area Charts
Line – trends over time (many periods). Area – trend plus the size of the total; stacked area shows how parts contribute over time.
Worked example. Line chart of Pune, Nashik and Nagpur sales Jul–Dec: the two peaks (Sep, Nov) are obvious. Add a Trendline (+ › Trendline › Linear) on Pune to show the underlying growth, or a 2-period moving average to smooth festival spikes.
Steps in Excel
- Select A1:D7 › Insert › Charts › Line or Area › Line with Markers.
- Highlight Pune: format the Pune line thicker and dark green; make the others light grey.
- Label the last point only: click the Dec point twice › + › Data Label.
- For gaps in data: Chart Design › Select Data › Hidden and Empty Cells › Show empty cells as Gaps / Zero / Connect with line.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Categories (cities) sathi line chart vaparnyachi chuk khup students kartat – Pune te Nashik madhe "line" kashi? Line fakt kramane yenarya gosti (time) sathi. Aani ekach chart madhe 6-7 lines takli tar "spaghetti" hote – ek-don highlight kara, baki grey.
Practice task
Create a line chart for the three cities, highlight Pune, add a linear trendline and label only the last point of each line.