Excel Video 451 shows you how to use Error Bars to display statistical information and a clever trick to show more information with fewer pixels. Error Bars are normally used to show uncertainty or confidence around numbers on a chart. For example, there are ways to show the number of standard deviations and other statistical information to make charts more meaningful. I hope your financial data doesn’t have a big margin for error, but you can use custom error bars to show the range of a set of data on a chart.
The use of Error Bars I’m going to demonstrate is a clever way to show more information with less ink (or pixels). We’ll use custom Error Bars to show the maximum and minimum number of patients per day on a bar chart showing the average number of patients per day per clinic. By displaying three pieces of information (average, max, and min) with one bar, we have more room on our chart to display more clinics. Stephen Few emphasizes showing more data with less ink (or pixels), and here’s a great way to do it.
