Creating a chart in Excel

Hello Mattylevan, thank you for reaching out to us today.

I can see that you are trying to create a graph to visualize how your 5km running times have changed over time, but the scatter chart you created doesn't seem to display the data correctly.

Let's go through the steps together to create the desired graph:

Step 1: Format your data properly Make sure your data is formatted correctly in the Excel spreadsheet. The date column should be in the "Date" format, and the running times should be in a numerical format (e.g., seconds or minutes). If your running times are in the format HH:MM:SS or MM:SS, you may need to convert them into a numerical format (e.g., total seconds) to create the graph correctly.

Step 2: Select the data Select both the date and running time columns in your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Insert the scatter chart Go to the "Insert" tab in Excel, then click on "Recommended Charts." Look for "Scatter" in the chart types, and select the first option which is "Scatter with only markers." This will create a basic scatter plot for your data.

Step 4: Adjusting the chart If the scatter plot is still not showing the data correctly, you might need to adjust some settings. Right-click on any data point in the chart and choose "Select Data."

Ensure that the horizontal (category) axis labels are set to the date column and the vertical (value) axis is set to the running time column. If they are not set correctly, you can edit them using the "Edit" buttons.

Step 5: Format the axes After you have set the correct data for the axes, you can format them to show dates on the X-axis and running times on the Y-axis. Right-click on the X-axis, choose "Format Axis," and select the appropriate options to display dates in the desired format.

Step 6: Add a trendline (optional) To visualize the trend in your running times over time, you can add a trendline to the scatter plot. Right-click on any data point, choose "Add Trendline," and select the type of trendline that fits your data best (linear, polynomial, etc.).

If you follow these steps, you should be able to create a scatter plot that displays your running times over time accurately.

If you're still having trouble or the data is not showing correctly, double-check your data formatting and chart settings to ensure everything is in order.

What is the chart type? Is it an XY Scatter Chart, or a Line Chart that shows only the markers and not the lines?