dual units? 9

[HgTX]

Anyone know of a way to put both metric & english axis labels on an Excel chart? Like for example inches down the left side and mm down the right?

(did SigmaPlot do this? does anyone still use SigmaPlot?)

Hg

 

[VEBill]

If you don't get a better answer, you could always take an image output of the chart and graphically edit it. It would only take a few minutes.

This assumes that the final output is something (like a report) where an image will be perfectly acceptable.

 

[MintJulep]

Kind of a pain, but I can't think of a better way.

Make a new column for your alternate units and populate it with the new numbers.

Plot the alternate units as a new series on the secondary axis.

Play with axis scaling until the two curves overlap.

Change the color to one of the curves to invisible.

 

[HgTX]

VE1BLL:

I was *so* hoping not to have to do that...but yeah, this whole thing is gonna be exported elsewhere.

I suppose one way would be to generate two separate charts, identical except for axes, and then superimpose the images. That would make sure that everything lines up right. (Not that I think anything in my pathetic array of Microsoft software will let me superimpose images.)

I'll try to try what MJ suggests & report back, if I have the brains for it today.

Hg

 

[swine]

The answer is no.
I looked into this, because I wanted to make design nomographs.

The only programs that are out there are high end--and thus hard to use--I gave up on the idea.

 

[HgTX]

Swine, you swine. You're telling me what I don't want to hear.

Hg
(sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[FalsePrecision]

This may be getting off topic, but the problem is, Excel hasn't really evolved in a constructive direction - maybe if QuattroPro had more clout in the marketplace, we would have a better spreadsheet.

 

[IRstuff]

Your original question simply asked about putting labels on both the left and right sides? I

f you graph more that 1 curve, you can select a secondary y-axis, which then allows you to label both y-axes separately.

TTFN

 

[ivymike]

yep - you can't lock the scales relative to each other, but you can manually set the scales so that the max, min, and divs all properly reflect the converted units.

 

[btrueblood]

I was gonna say, this is pretty easy to do. Just plot a second series consisting of the converted units at the max & min. ends of the range to be plotted, and plot this new series on a "secondary axis". Format the series to turn off its plotting (click the radio buttons for "no line" and "no marker", then click on the series name in the legend (if used), and press delete.

 

[HgTX]

Having now played with the secondary axis concept, I now realize I need dual units for both axes. As far as I can tell, secondary axis is only good for the Y axis. Or am I missing something?

I think I'm going to give up, stick with one set of units, and let the publishing people figure out how to get the equivalents in there.

Feh.

Hg

 

[btrueblood]

HgTx,

You could fake a pretty good secondary X-axis by plotting a "+" symbol marker along a line slightly offset from the origin. The symbols would be plotted from a series of converted data at whatever increment you wanted.

 

[VEBill]

"...my pathetic array of Microsoft software will let me superimpose images."

Even the lowly MS-Paint allows one to superimpose images (there's two buttons - overlay or superimpose). It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to prepare an absolutely pixel-perfect image for export (to MS-Word for example).

 

[HgTX]

My new tack: convince them the picture really isn't worth a thousand words and I can just omit it...

Hg

 

[Flareman]

I have a similar problem in some of my calculations so I set up the axes with non-specific characters (Like A..B..C etc or I ..II..III you get the idea). Then, after locating the graph on the spreadsheet, I put a couple of columns on the side and rows on the bottom which contain the real numbers. They are almost adjacent and not difficult to decipher. With a little thought and time you can actually juggle the row and column sizes to match excatly, but thats not really needed.
I use the same technique when using the same physical presentation for differing input variables. It means just a little extra cell progamming (IF statements etc) but it's very convenient to read when it's done and it makes the presentation idiot-friendly.
You could also try the same thing with the area pattern set to none. (Double click the background to open the dialogue box). Then you can move the graph over the data cells so that they show through and avoid the A.B.C altogether. You need to play with this a little to get the hang of it. Be creative!

 

[btrueblood]

Well, there's always the old ink pen and straight edge technique...now, where's my straightedge...and where's my good drafting pen...and the ink is all crusty and dried...hmmm. Maybe some mac-tac, but the gal at the office supply store gave me a funny look when I asked...

 

[flamby]

At least for X-axis problem...

1. First column - values in mm
2. Second column - convert the first to inches, round to 2 decimal precision.
3. Third - =CONCATENATE(A1,"(",B1,")")

WIll appear like 10(0.39).

You can plot this text mm(inch) in X axis as labels.

Ciao.

 

[BigH]

btrueblood - at least you remember!! Many do not.

 

[joerd]

HgTX,

Three things that may be of help:
1. Once you have a secondary Y-axis set up, you can select Chart/Options from the menu, and go to the Axes tab. Magically, you are now allowed to tick also the Secondary Value (X) axis!

2. If you - at some point - want two overlapping charts, the way to do it is to place the "background" chart into a chart sheet (Chart/Location - Place chart as new sheeet)
and then place the second chart "as object in Chart1"

3. If you have a mix of a chart and a scanned image (for example), you can select the chart area, and then format the fill pattern with the Fill Effects button to show a picture, which can be any image file.

Good luck experimenting.

Cheers,
Joerd

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Clyde38]

HgTX,
If you haven't given up yet, or worked out a solution you should go to

http://peltiertech.com/

and take a look at his chart stuff. You'll find something about tertiery axes. This will do what you want I'm sure. I've used it and it's pretty simple. You'll have to download some labeling addins, but all of the information is there.
Clyde