The choice of a Circle Graph is appropriate when you are attempting to show how parts relate to the whole. A good example of this might be when you show percentages of the total.
The basic concept of a circle graph is area displayed as "slices of pie". It is important that each slice represent the proper percentage of the whole. Excel will draw those slices the proper percent with is a great improvement over using a protractor or just estimating how large each slice should be!
This
table might represent a typical table where each of the sales items is also
represented as a percent of the total.
If you would like to represen this data in a graph, the appropriate choice would be the Circle Graph or Pie Graph.
First, we will select the appropriate data that is needed for the graph.
Once
the data is selected (click and drag), we should tell Excel that we wish
to insert a chart. We can use the Menu process and select Insert
+ Chart or we may elect to click on the Chart Wizard
button located on the toolbar.
Excel will open the first of 4 panels in the wizard. The first panel lets you select the type of graph you wish to use.
The
choice we prefer is the Circle graph or Pie Graph.
We can select from the type of graphs in the left window and see the different varieties of graphs in the right window.
If you click on a particular graph type in the right window, Excel will display a text hint below to give you a better idea of what this graph is all about.
When we have picked the best graph, we select Next and move to the next panel that lets us identify the source of the data for Excel.
Since our data is arranged in columns in the Data Table, we will select columns here.
The third panel lets us label the graph with headings that might be appropriate for helping viewers understand our data.
When we are satisfied, we will click Next and proceed to the last Panel to tell Excel where to display this data.
For purposes of this exercise, we will choose to display the graph with the Data Table so we select Sheet1.
Note that the different "pie-slices" are the appropriate size to match the percentages in our Data Table. The color may or may not be helpful depending on what you are doing with the final project. (Do you have a color printer?)
Some people find the legend a little small. It is a separate object in a collection of objects. You can click on a single name and enlarge the text with the Font size button of Excel. Enlarging the box containing the names will not enlarge the text.
However, you can size the entire graph smaller or larger. A word of caution....as you make the graph smaller, the text contents will become most difficult to read!
