Sanderson M. Smith

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Here is how to get the x-axis labeled correctly on spreadsheets using Excel 98.

On a spreadsheet, the y-axis is the value axis, and the x-axis is the category axis. The data in a column (or row, depending upon how you choose to construct your spreadsheet) is called a series. Here we go...

This explanation assumes you have the x-values in the A column and the y alues in the B column.

A1 B1
A2 B2
A3 B3
A4 B4
A5 B5

So, we have 5 rows and 2 columns in this example.

Highlight all of the data.
Select CHART WIZARD from options at top of screen.
Select COLUMN chart from the displayed options... then NEXT.
Now comes the important part: You see two folders, DATA RANGE and SERIES.
On DATA RANGE, choose columns (since our data series are in columns, not rows).
Now, click on SERIES folder.
Remove Series 1 (You don't want this to be a value series).
Look in the VALUE box. You will see =Sheet1!$B$1:$B$5.
This is OK, since you want the B column numbers to be y values.
Copy what is in the VALUE box.
Paste it in the box labeled CATEGORY (X) AXIS LABELS.
After doing the paste, change the B's to A's. Then the CATEGORY box should read =Sheet1!$A$1:$A$5.
This is what you want. That is, you want the items (in this case, numbers, but they could be names, categories, etc.) to be the labels on the category axis (the x-axis).

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