All you can plot

The menu

Every chart Chart Buffet can make, grouped by the job it does. Each page explains when it works, the maths behind it and where it came from — and opens a maker with sample data.

Compare

• Column chart Compare amounts across a handful of categories or periods.
• Bar chart Compare many categories, or ones with long names.
• Radar chart Compare profiles across several dimensions.

Change over time

• Line chart Show how values change over time.
• Area chart Give a trend some weight by filling beneath it.
• Stacked area chart Show how parts of a total change over time.
• Candlestick chart Show open, high, low and close for each period.

Part of a whole

• Stacked column chart Show totals and what each is made of.
• 100% stacked chart Compare the mix when every bar is a whole.
• Pie chart Show a few parts of one whole.
• Doughnut chart A pie with room for the total in the middle.

Relationships

• Scatter plot See whether two measures move together.
• Bubble chart A scatter plot with a third measure as size.

Distribution

• Histogram See how one measure’s values are spread.
• Box plot Compare the spread of several groups at once.
• Pareto chart Find the few causes behind most of the effect.

Flow and stages

• Waterfall chart Show how gains and losses add up to a total.
• Funnel chart Show how many make it through each stage.