In early February Sujit asked a question at Chandoo.org, original post.
I require a formula stating criteria [0%-25% output will be 0, 26%-50% output will be 0.1, 51%-75% output will be 0.2, 76%-100% output will be 0.3 & 100% + output will be 0.4]
Kyle, responded with a neat Sumproduct formula
=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)
I think it is so neat that it is worthy of sharing and detailing here at Formula Forensics:
So today we will pull Kyle’s answer apart to see what’s inside.
Kyle’s Formula
As usual we will work through this formula using a sample file for you to follow along. Download Here.
Kyle’s formula is a Sumproduct based formula
=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)
Lets look at cell C3 as our example.
;
In C3 we see the formula: =SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)
Which consists of a Sumproduct function and a formula inside the sumproduct.
We know from Formula Forensics 007 that Sumproduct, Sums the Product of the Arrays, and that when there is only 1 array it simply sums the array elements.
In this case the Sumproduct only has a single array as an element
=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)
and so the (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1 component must return an Array of elements for the Sumproduct to sum.
If we now look at the (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1 component.
We can see that it consists of a comparison B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}
The result of the comparison is Multiplied by 0.1.
Sujit’s orginal question asked: 0%-25% output will be 0, 26%-50% output will be 0.1, 51%-75% output will be 0.2, 76%-100% output will be 0.3 & 100% + output will be 0.4
And Kyles formula is using B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1} to work out which category the value in B3 belongs to.
We can see this if in a blank cell say C5: we enter the following:
= B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1} press F9 not Enter.
Excel will respond with ={TRUE,TRUE,TRUE,FALSE}
This is showing us that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd elements in the formula: B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}, are True
In our example the value in B3 is 80% which is 0.8 which is Greater than 0.25 and Greater than 0.5 and Greater than 0.75, but Not Greater than 1.0.
The next part of Kyle’s formula is (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1
In a blank cell say C7: enter the following:
= B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}*0.1 press F9 not Enter.
Excel will respond with ={0.1,0.1,0.1,0}
This is showing us the result of
=(B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1
={TRUE,TRUE,TRUE,FALSE} *0.1
={0.1,0.1,0.1,0}
Sumproduct now only has to add up the Array
=Sumproduct({0.1,0.1,0.1,0})
Which it does returning 0.3.
The Neat Part
The neat part of this is that Kyle has used the 0.1 Multiplier to Force the array to an array of Numbers for Sumproduct to sum.
Had Kyle used: =SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1
Excel would have returned an answer of 0
This is because as we saw in Formula Forensics 007, Sumproduct doesn’t know what to do with the array of True/False, they need to be converted to numerical equivalents for Sumproduct to operate on.
In a spare cell, say C9, enter: =SUMPRODUCT((B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1
Excel will respond with 0
Of course that can be fixed by using a double degative of a 1* inside the formula
In a spare cell, say C10, enter either:
=SUMPRODUCT(1*(B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1
or
=SUMPRODUCT(- -(B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1
Excel will respond with 0.3 as it should
Except that the formula is longer and now has to do 1 more multiplication.
Download
You can download a copy of the above file and follow along, Download Here.
Formula Forensics “The Series”
You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts
We Need Your Help
I have received a few more ideas since last week and these will feature in coming weeks.
I do need more ideas though and so I need your help.
If you have a neat formula that you would like to share and explain, try putting pen to paper and draft up a Post like above or;
If you have a formula that you would like explained but don’t want to write a post also send it to Chandoo or Hui.
15 Responses to “Make a Bubble Chart in Excel [15 second tutorial]”
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Whyyyyyyyy?
The idea is to tell how to make a bubble chart. I got an e-mail from a reader recently asking how the scatter bubble is made. So I thought a 15 second tutorial would be a good idea to show this.
Did that email go "Dear Chandoo, I know that you scorn bubble charts, but if I don't do one in Excel for my boss then he'll fire my sorry ass, and my children will have to be sold for medical experiments in order for me to be able to afford the upgrade path to Excel 2010"?
If so, fair enough...it's all in the greater good 😉
Chandoo,
I am using excel 2003 and it is not working. The x axis is not the one that I enter in x axis column. Please help! Thanks.
Sorry, after few attempts, I managed to get the right result. I shouldn't select the title (header) of the table and select only the data to produce the right bubble chart.
What's wrong with bubble charts? Is there a better method for displaying scatter plots with lots of overlapping data points? Don't tell me you'd rather jitter!
@Sanwijay: Cool.
@Precious Roy: There is nothing wrong with bubble charts. Infact, it is the only way to show 3 dimensional data (x,y and sizes) without confusing your audience. Jeff is worried that people might misuse the chart. As with any chart, bubbles also have a place and time for using them.
I recommend using bubble charts to show relative performance various products in several regions and similar situations.
Also, human eye is notorious in wrongly estimating the bubble sizes (as we have to measure areas). See http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/28/charting-lessons-from-optical-illusions/
We can partially improve bubble charts by adding data labels, but if you have too many bubbles, the labels will clutter the chart and make it look busy.
I can't seem to find a way to plot more than ten bubbles on a chart and need to know how to add more
@KW.. why would such a thing happen. I am sure you can add more bubbles that that. Can you tell us exactly what you are doing...
Example table:
A B C (size)
Me: 25 30 15%
Him: 30 22 11%
Her: 12 30 20%
I am trying to make a bubble chart where the Y axis is A, the X axis is B, and the size of the bubble is C. There should be only 3 bubbles. I keep ending up with six (with the labels being only "Me" and "Her"). My goal is to have three bubbles, one representing each person. Clearly I am doing something wrong. Can you help explain...?
Hi,
I wanted to add data labels to the bubbles. Each bubble represents a different company name. Excel allows me to add the size, legend, x axis values and y axis values. How do I add instead- Company A, B, C, D for the bubbles?
youon you have to choice every data for every company..
ex:create bubble for A company,after that click right> add data label> adjust data labels :format data labels and choose : series name.
i hop u will succeed .
[...] we create a bubble chart with 2 bubbles. 1 for the actual mustache & 1 for target [...]
If we want bubble size to be controlled by one column, but the bubble labels to be controlled by another column, how can this be achieved?
many thanks!!!!