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Scatter Plot Maker

Enter your points as x y pairs and draw an XY scatter plot with up to four series, a title and axis titles of your own, a number format and a linear or log scale per axis, and a trendline on any series.

Entering your points

Type your data as x y pairs, one pair for every point you want on the chart. You can use between one and four series, so a second or third set of points can sit on the same axes and be compared directly, and each series can carry its own trendline.

Alongside the data you give the chart a title and each axis a title of its own, set the number format used for the values, and choose a linear or log scale for each axis separately. The legend that names the series goes in the position that suits the shape of your plot.

Reading the chart

Every point is placed by its x value along the horizontal axis and its y value up the vertical axis, so a point further right has the larger x value and a point higher up has the larger y value. Whether the points climb from left to right, fall, or stay spread out is what the chart shows you.

A trendline drawn over a series follows the general direction of its points, which makes the overall pattern easier to take in than single points. A log scale spaces values by size instead of in equal steps, so a set of points covering a very wide range still stays readable on one chart.

Trendline formula

The three choices differ by the shape of the line they draw. A linear trendline formula is a straight line, so it rises or falls at a steady rate. An exponential trendline formula keeps curving more steeply as it goes. A second-degree polynomial trendline formula bends once, which suits points that climb and then flatten out, or fall and then level off.

In short, a linear trendline formula looks like y = a times x plus b, an exponential one like y = a times e to the power b times x, and a second-degree polynomial one like y = a times x squared plus b times x plus c, where the letters stand for the numbers that place the curve on your axes.

Pick the form that matches the pattern you can already see in the points: a straight line while the change is steady, the exponential form while each step grows the previous one, and the second-degree polynomial when the points turn once. The trendline is a guide drawn over the series you chose.