Surface or Contour Chart

[GorD]

I have been asked to help someone at work with either a surface chart or a contour - something I haven't used before. I believe the data is thickness measurements on a metal plate and each measurement has x and y coordinates.
This is the data:

x y Thickness (nm)
5 -15 65.01
-5 -15 64.13
-15 -5 64.26
-5 -5 63.98
5 -5 64.72
15 -5 65.79
15 5 65.86
5 5 64.91
-5 5 64.3
-15 5 64.32
-5 15 64.73
5 15 65.27

Can anybody help with plotting this in a meaningful manor

Any help is appreciated

 

[GorD]

Anybody any good on surface charts?

 

[Damon Ostrander]

Hi GorD,

To set up a surface/countour chart you must put your data into the form of a 2-D table. For your data it would look like this:

x | y -> -15 -5 5 15
-15 64.26 64.32
-5 64.13 63.98 64.3 64.73
5 65.01 64.72 64.91 65.27
15 65.79 65.86

It would be best if you filled in data for the corner points, as otherwise the chart will assume zero values at the corners. If you cannot come up with actual measurement data at the corners, you should put in a value such as 65.

To generate the surface plot simply select the area containing the data (not the row and column headers) and then run the chart wizard selecting the surface plot option. I recommend that if you want a contour plot you start with a surface plot and get everything as you want it, then change it to a contour plot since you cannot change the z-axis scaling of a contour plot--it will be whatever you set the surface plot z-axis scaling to.

Initially the correct row and column headers will not appear on the x and y axes, but you can add the headers by assigning their ranges by right-clicking on the chart, select Source Data, and enter the Name and Category (X) axis labels textbox.

 

[Damon Ostrander]

Hi again GorD,

Sorry, that table didn't line up in the posting the way it did in the input textbox. Here's another try:

x___/ y ->_ -15_______ -5________ 5_________ 15
-15_______ 65________ 64.26_____ 64.32_____ 65
-5_______ 64.13_____ 63.98_____ 64.3______ 64.73
5________ 65.01_____ 64.72_____ 64.91_____ 65.27
15_______ 65________ 65.79_____ 65.86_____ 65

Damon

 

[GorD]

Thanks a lot Damon. I'll give it a go. I might need to come back on the data set up but I'll see how I go.