Creating a Histogram with Excel 2000
1. Go to the “Tools” menu in Excel.
2. You should have “Data Analysis” as an option.
· If it is not there, then under the “Tools” menu, click on “Add-ins.”
· Check the “Analysis ToolPaK” and the “Analysis ToolPak VBA.”
· The installation may require an Office 2000 CD at this point.
You’re now ready to create a histogram in Excel.
3. Go to Tools/Data Analysis/Histogram. Click OK. A dialog box appears fill in the following sections:
· Input:
i. Input range: With the blinking cursor in the box for the Input range, highlight the numbers you want in the histogram with your mouse.
ii. Bin Range: Just to the right of the data type in ten evenly spaced numbers ranging from your smallest number (or a little lower) to the highest. Click on the box next to Bin Range and then select one cell just to the right of the bin data that you just entered.
· Output Options:
i. Output Range: Click on the box to the right of this. On the spreadsheet click on the place you would like the output information to go. This will include a Bin and Frequency. Place as close to the top right hand data point as possible.
ii. Chart Output: Select it. If you fail to click it, you will get a frequency table, but no graph.
After performing the above, click on “Ok”. At this point your data should look like the following:
Data / Bin / Bin / Frequency64.0 / 60 / 60 / 0
66.2 / 65 / 65 / 1
73.6 / 70 / 70 / 2
87.9 / 75 / 75 / 1
99.3 / 80 / 80 / 3
89.8 / 85 / 85 / 2
69.0 / 90 / 90 / 5
95.1 / 95 / 95 / 3
78.1 / 100 / 100 / 2
69.5 / More / 0
97.8
61.0
92.2
84.1
68.1
73.5
84.2
98.2
77.9
4. Clean up the results: As with regular graphs you can right click on the histogram and choose one of the options that appear.
· Format Chart Area:
i. Border: Select a black border.
ii. Area: Select a white background.
· Chart Options
i. Legend: Leave “Show Legend” blank.
· Location: Select “As new sheet”. You want your Histogram to occupy a whole sheet. You can name the sheet by typing a name in the fill in box.