Excel - creating a bar chart to show 2 sets of data at once

Penelope_Penguin

Hello! DD is doing some maths homework. She has 2 sets of data in Excel and wants to show them both on the same bar chart to compare them.

Can anyone describe to us how this is done?

Many thanks.

isofa

Does the data have the same categories?

If so make sure it's in the same table eg:

Data Set A Data Set B

cat1
cat2
cat3
cat4

And chart the whole table's data.

If the data is completely different, with different categories and reference points, there is little point in displaying it on the same chart, as it'll be meaningless...

Penelope_Penguin

Thanks for that - it's a piece of work comparing boys to girls so the 2 sets of data are similar and relevant to each other.

Can you give me a bit more explanation of how she does this?

Thanks.

isofa

What are the categories, data etc.

Essentially just create a table:

Boys Girls

Category/Question1 Results
Category/Question2 Results
Category/Question3 Results

etc

Then select all of the data (including the category titles and boys/girls) click ChartWizard, and follow the prompts...

f1charlie

Step by step with pictures here:

http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/excelcharts/ss/bar_graph.htm