2a - Plotting Functions In Excel

Plotting Functions in Excel Colton 8/04

To make plots of functions (e.g. f(x)) in Excel, you must first define which values of x you want to have plotted. The easiest way to do that is to first choose the starting x value, and the second x value (the starting value plus the increment size). For example, if I want to start plotting at x=0, and plot ponts in 0.1 increments, I would enter 0 and 0.1 as the first values in column A.

Then, to specify additional x values, select both 0 and 0.1, click the lower right corner of the selection, and drag the selection down. When you release the mouse button, the selection is automatically filled in with values continuing on in the pattern you established with the first two x values.

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Then you can define a function in the next column which acts upon those x values, and copy & paste that formula into the other rows in column B as usual.

From there, you can use an “XY (Scatter)” plot to display the function, as has been previously explained. •

Make sure you use an XY plot, and not a “Line” plot, or the x-axis will be the row #, instead of being the x value (column A). You generally will not ever want to use the middle XY plot options of “data points connected by smoothed lines”.

If you want to display two plots at once, you can create a new function in Column C, then select all three columns before clicking on the Chart Wizard toolbar icon.

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If you want to plot a function that’s a non-adjacent column, click on A to select the first column, then “control-click” on the other column that you wish to plot. Then click on the Chart Wizard as usual.

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