Now resize the chart object so that it’s approximately square. Set the minimum axis option to 0 (zero) and the maximum value to 1. Then click on one of the chart axes and press Ctrl+1 to launch the Format Axis dialog or side panel. Select and delete the chart’s legend, title, and gridlines, as needed. And after Excel creates your chart, cut and paste it to the top area of your worksheet, if necessary. Now, in your Ribbon, choose Insert, Charts, Scatter, Scatter with Straight Lines. (So, for example, you might select the range B5:C200.) To create the chart, first select the range from cell B5 through the bottom of your formulas in column C. (The exact number of rows isn’t critical. Now enter these formulas for the cells shown:Ĭopy the range A10:C10 down the column for at least 200 rows. Now select cell C2 and repeat the process to define the name Scale. Change the Scope setting to Square make sure that the Name text is Points then choose OK. Choose Formulas, Defined Names, Define Name (or press Ctrl+Alt+F3) to launch the New Name dialog. Then enter the numbers, text, and formatting shown in rows 1 through 9 of the table above.Īssign range names to the two settings marked by the yellow cells. To begin, launch a new workbook with one worksheet, and name that sheet Square. Here, for example, the inner box is 93% of the size of the outer box. The Scale setting above the table specifies about how large each new rotated shape should be compared with the shape that precedes it. Points 6 through 10 define the position of the next box, which is slightly rotated, as shown in this figure. The remaining three points draw the rest of the square, completing it at point 5 in the table…a point that has the same values as point 1. These two sets of points define the blue vertical line at the left side of the chart’s Plot Area. Point 2 is at the top-left corner, where the X value equals 0 and the Y value equals 1. Point 1 in the table is at the bottom-left corner of the blue square, where both the X and Y values equal zero. To illustrate, the first five points in this table define the blue square that outlines the top-left chart above, and for the simple chart below.
And if the chart shows lines, like the charts above do, the chart requires two pairs of values for each line: a starting point and an ending point for each line segment. Unlike typical line charts, each point of an XY chart requires two values: an X position and a Y position.
So let’s create one of these charts… Introducing the Square XY Chart But I included the axes so you could see that they really are Excel charts. Normally, if I were going to display these figures as an example of computer art, I’d hide the X and Y axes of the charts. My inspiration for these designs came from an article that Daniel Gasteiger wrote in LOTUS magazine about 30 years ago, when I also wrote for the magazine. And the remaining charts show the same charting techniques applied to different shapes. The last chart relies on random numbers for its initial data. The first two charts above are from the same chart object, but with two different settings. Honestly, I can’t think of a practical use for any of them, but they definitely are fun to play with. These charts are the result of my play time.
(You can download the workbook with these and additional example charts here.) Unlike line charts, XY charts plot points and lines by specifying both the X and Y values. Because I’d been working hard on a project for many months, I once decided to take a break and play around with XY charts…which also are known as scatter charts.