showing average line line

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Showing an average line on a line chart

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Kirsteen has attended:
Excel Intermediate course

Showing an average line on a line chart

I have recently prepared a number of charts which relate to productivity and output over a span of 4 years or so. As well as showing the actual output for each month, I would like to show a single average line horizontally across the chart so that it is easy to see where output exceeds the average and where it is less than the average. I have not been able to find a way of showing this average line. Are you able to advise of a suitable tool?

RE: Showing an average line on a line chart

Hi Kirsteen

Thank you for your question regarding charts.

There is no simple way to add a line at a certain value in an Excel chart. You need to add to your data a row of the average value over the data, so a row of exactly the same value.

Include this data in your charts and it will show as a single horizontal line. You can remove the datapoints by doubling clicking on the line to bring up the Format Data series and selecting Marker - None.

I hope that helps.

Laura GB


 

Excel tip:

Random Numbers

Type =RAND()*200 to generate a number between 1 and 200.
Use the fill handle to drag down and populate as many cells as you'd like with random numbers.

View all Excel hints and tips


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