Excel 2007 Graph

[Chrissya03]

I cannot for the life of me figure this out and I am past frustration.

My gist of my data is comparing the mileage of a truck with the costs of maintenance on that truck. Whenever the vehicle is brought in, the mileage was recorded along with the repair costs. I have a long list of values for about 5 trucks, similar to this -
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 92pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=122 border=0><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 44pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2121" width=58><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2340" width=64><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl67 style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; WIDTH: 44pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fcd5b4" width=58 height=20>Mileage</TD><TD class=xl66 style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fcd5b4" width=64>Cost</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>10,581</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$54.97</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>11,000</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$42.21</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>15,191</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$76.96</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>20,849</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$55.97</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>25,261</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$90.97</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>30,395</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$55.97</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>32,261</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$38.95</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl64 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right height=20>35,674</TD><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right>$55.97</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I just want to plot a line graph to show the relationship between mileage and repair cost and I am coming up blank. Every time I insert a graph, it looks crazy and makes no sense. Suggestions?

 

[asking]

Hi Chrissya03,

You could try this, it maybe what you require ~
Select your data ~ Mileage through to 55.97, go to the insert menu, in charts click line, click the first box, on the menu chart layouts, click the middle arrow on the right, select layout 9, now Right click on the bottom colored line in the chart, select format data series, tick secondary axis, click close.

For a bit clearer understanding put in some drop lines. While in the chart menu click layout, click on lines in the analysis section, click drop lines.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jon Peltier]

You don't say what it means for the chart to "look crazy".

Select the data and create an XY chart, with markers and lines. The XY chart will have miles across the horizontal axisand dollars up the vertical.

 

[Chrissya03]

Jon,
What you have described is what I have done and it still looks "crazy"! Here is a screen shot -

 

[Jon Peltier]

I can't read the microscopic text in your graph.

 

[Chrissya03]

Thats as big as it would let me make it. The horizontal axis is Miles and the vertical axis is cost (dollars) - just as you suggested.

 

[Jon Peltier]

The data sample you provided has data sorted by miles. It looks like the data used for your chart has the data sorted by cost. Sort the data by miles and recreate the chart.