scaling of columns: same maximum height despite different ranges

  • Thread starter Thread starter wildetudor
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wildetudor

When plotting several variables on a single chart (e.g. each category on the
x-axis has three clustered columns), and the value ranges of the three
variables are very different, is it possible to have Excel scale each
variable such that they are all represented by columns of comparable height
in the graph (i.e. the maximum value of each is represented by a column of
the same height)?

To illustrate this rather abstract question, I have created this example
chart (in Excel, then I added the values in a photo editor), in which I
compare three variables (CPU rating, GPU rating and weight) for four
different laptop models -- http://www.badongo.com/pic/5057464

Thanks for any help.
 
Normalize your data, that is, in a second range, divide each range by the
maximum of that range. Plot this second region, and the data will scale from
0 to 1 (0% to 100%). Hide the axis labels if they are not meaningful. Now
apply the real values as data labels. You can apply any data labels, then
edit them manually, but it is easier to use on of these free utilities:

Rob Bovey's Chart Labeler, http://appspro.com/Utilities/ChartLabeler.htm
John Walkenbach's Chart Tools,
http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/files/charttools.htm

- Jon
 
I expected there'd be a way to automatize this in Excel, but charting the
normalizing values is not difficult to do, and accomplishes what I wanted to
achieve - thanks for a great answer!
 
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