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An overview of area and stacked area charts in Excel.
Example Excel Spreadsheet
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Another type of chart that exists
in Excel is called, the area chart.
0:00
Area charts are basically line charts that
fill in the area between the line and
0:04
the axes.
0:09
An area chart with a single data set can
pack much more punch than a line chart.
0:11
Let's look at the gym membership file and
0:16
talk through a couple
examples of the area chart.
0:18
Then we'll introduce the stacked area
chart, and what stacking means for
0:21
charts, in general.
0:25
Okay, so here we are looking at
our line chart of the gym network.
0:27
Let's change this line
chart to an area chart.
0:33
Actually, let's go back to our data
series and create a new chart.
0:37
So, I'm going to go to Insert and
then find the 2-D Area chart.
0:42
Okay, and
I'm gonna make it a little bit bigger so
0:49
it's slightly easier for you all to see.
0:51
So, this is an area chart.
0:54
It doesn't really do a good job of
telling us a story though, right?
0:58
Well, before we change that I want
to explain what you're looking at.
1:02
We can see three colors here,
even though there are seven locations.
1:07
This is because the area displays
of some of the data series
1:11
are overlapping the others.
1:16
So, we can see the North 2
location here in the front.
1:19
Then, the Southeast location covers
most of the area of the chart.
1:24
And finally, we can see a bit of
Burnside in the top left, right here.
1:28
You can actually see where
this goes going forward but,
1:34
it's behind the Southeast location.
1:38
The Southeast location is bigger
than most of the other locations, so
1:41
we don't get to see them.
1:45
Why is it displaying the data like this?
1:47
Well, it's because of how
we've ordered our data series.
1:49
So, if we select the Southeast data
series, then go to the formula bar,
1:54
we see this equation.
2:00
The syntax says,
that the series we've selected that
2:02
the label is on cell A9,
so that's the Southeast.
2:07
The horizontal X axis categories
sheet 1 B3 through M3
2:12
are right here, those are the months.
2:17
And then for this individual data series,
the data points are in cells
2:21
B9 through M9, which is shown by
this blue box behind the chart.
2:26
And then,
there is this comma at the end with 6.
2:32
Let's change this 6 to a 1, return.
2:38
You can see the order of
the data series has now changed.
2:42
It hasn't changed in our data set but
it has changed in the chart.
2:47
You can use this trick to reorder your
data series on other chart types as well.
2:51
We've put Southeast location at the back.
2:57
We can see more locations
now in front of that.
2:59
So clearly, this area chart isn't
really telling us a story still.
3:02
Let's whittle the chart down to just the
two North locations and see what we find.
3:06
I can do this a few different ways.
3:12
First of all,
I could create a new chart, and
3:14
just select the two different
North locations as data series.
3:17
We can also click on this chart and
click on a specific data series, and
3:21
click Delete.
3:25
So I've got the Southeast location
selected right now, I want to delete it.
3:25
I've removed it from the chart.
3:30
Perhaps the best option in this
situation is to right-click the chart.
3:32
Go to Select Data.
3:39
And deselect the locations
I don't want to include.
3:42
Okay, we're looking at the area charts for
both North locations.
3:48
The take away still isn't very clear.
3:54
What we can see is that
the second location ramps up.
3:55
The first location declines a bit.
4:01
But, is that really what we want to show?
4:03
What about if we stack the two series?
4:07
So, I'm gonna change the chart type.
4:10
I'm gonna go to Area > Stacked Area,
there we go.
4:14
As the name suggests,
4:21
a stacked area chart puts each
data series on top of each other.
4:23
Showing the incremental increases
from each series to get
4:27
to a total value of all
series in the chart.
4:31
This is called, stacking in charts and can
be done in both columns and area charts.
4:35
So, here we can see that although there
may have been some cannibalization.
4:42
The addition of the second location
has indeed added to the membership for
4:48
this gym network in the North region.
4:52
We started off with a little less than
3,000 members at the start of the year.
4:56
And even though we have seasonal impacts
that will reduce membership later on in
5:00
the year, we still ended with more than
3,000 members at the end of the year.
5:04
How about you create a stacked column
chart for the entire network of gyms?
5:08
Then a stacked area chart.
5:14
In the next video,
5:16
I'll show you how to do that along with
an additional way to look at the data.
5:18
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