Charts

A chart is a summary you can read in two seconds. That speed is the whole point, and also the risk: the wrong chart type, or the right one drawn carelessly, gets read just as fast. Most of an analyst’s chart work happens before Insert → Chart. You decide which question the chart answers, then build a small, tidy table of numbers for it. The chart is only as good as that table.

In this chapter every chart level has a live chart under the grid. You build the numbers behind it with the functions you already know: SUMIF for revenue by category, SUMIFS for spend by day and channel, COUNTIFS for a price histogram, and CORREL next to a scatter plot. The chart redraws as you type, and a Chart type menu lets you see the same numbers as a column, bar, line, pie or scatter chart. Two quizzes cover choosing the right chart and reading one honestly: truncated axes, pies with too many slices, and correlation that is not causation. The boss level is a small daily dashboard with a PivotChart and two formula-driven charts.

The page draws the charts so you can practise anywhere. In Excel you select the range and use Insert → Charts (or PivotChart), then set titles, labels and the legend in Chart Design. Each lesson gives those steps too.