#Create bubble chart software#
#Create bubble chart series#

For example, the maximum bubble size is often set to some fraction of the total width of the chart, and therefore will not equal the true measurement value.ĭisplaying zero or negative data values in bubble charts It is important to remember that the range of bubble sizes used is often arbitrary. For example, bubble charts can lead to misinterpretations such as the weighted average illusion, where the sizes of bubbles are taken into account when estimating the mean x- and y-values of the scatterplot. Judgments based on bubble sizes can be problematic regardless of whether area or diameter is used.

It is therefore important that bubble charts not only be scaled correctly, but also be clearly labeled to document that it is area, rather than radius or diameter, that conveys the data. And because many people are unfamiliar with-or do not stop to consider-the issue and its impact on perception, those who are aware of it often have to hesitate in interpreting a bubble chart because they cannot assume that the scaling correction was indeed made. This scaling issue can lead to extreme misinterpretations, especially where the range of the data has a large spread. Scaling the size of bubbles based on area can be misleading.

#Create bubble chart software#

This is why most charting software requests the radius or diameter of the bubble as the third data value (after horizontal and vertical axis data). The human visual system most naturally experiences a disk's size in terms of its diameter, rather than area. Using bubbles to represent scalar (one-dimensional) values can be misleading. The sizes of the bubbles are determined by the values in the third data series.'.

#Create bubble chart series#

As the documentation for Microsoft Office explains, 'You can use a bubble chart instead of a scatter chart if your data has three data series that each contain a set of values. Bubble charts can facilitate the understanding of social, economical, medical, and other scientific relationships.īubble charts can be considered a variation of the scatter plot, in which the data points are replaced with bubbles. Each entity with its triplet ( v 1, v 2, v 3) of associated data is plotted as a disk that expresses two of the v i values through the disk's xy location and the third through its size. Trend suggests higher crime rates in states with higher percentages of people living below the poverty level.Ī bubble chart is a type of chart that displays three dimensions of data. Larger bubbles indicate higher percentage of state residents at or below the poverty level. In this tutorial, we used a simple example to demonstrate how we can adjust bubble size in Excel to highlight a particular set of data.Type of chart Bubble chart displaying the relationship between poverty and violent and property crime rates by state. When we change the scale of the bubble, the diameter of the bubble will be changed according to the scale.Īlways try to keep the size of the bubble as close to the original as possible, because changing the scale of the bubble has the potential to change the entire graph.

Now, close the format menu to get the final output.

Under the axis menu, adjust the bubble scale based on your requirements, as shown in the below figure. To adjust the bubble size, right-click on the bubble size and select format data series from the popup menu box then a format data series will be opened. The bubble graph will be created successfully. To create the bubble graph, select the data, click on 'Insert,' and select '3-D bubble' under the graph section, as shown in the below figure. Assume we have an Excel sheet containing the data for the bubble graph. We can change the size of the bubble by changing its dimensions.įirst, we need to create the bubble chart for the given data in order to adjust the size of the bubble. Adjusting the Bubble Size in a Bubble Chartįirst, we'll make the bubble chart, and then we'll change the bubble size from the formatted data series. In this tutorial, let's take a look at a quick way to change the size of the bubbles in an Excel bubble chart. In a bubble chart, the graph uses both the X and Yaxes to represent the position of the bubbles on the chart. The bubble chart represents the data points in the form of bubbles, and the size of the bubble depends on the occupancy we mentioned in the data set. A bubble chart in Excel is one of the types of scatter charts used in Excel.