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westes's avatar
westes
Copper Contributor
Jul 21, 2022
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Having Problems Putting Two Line Graphs Together

I am new to graphing in Excel, and I am having a problem getting two line-graphs to draw correctly. I am graphing the pH (acid/alkaline) balance in a yogurt ferment over time. The two pH data series are sharing the same timeline shown in the Excel spreadsheet.
 
The "Reference pH" data series is drawing a line for part of the series, but the first data point is not showing a line to the second data point. Why would Excel arbitrarily draw a line for only part of the data points shown on the graph?
 
The "Current pH" shows the data points, but it is not drawing any line at all.
 
Both are configured to be lines, and the x and y data ranges look right. I don't get it. How do I debug this?

 

  • westes 

    "Why would Excel arbitrarily draw a line for only part of the data points shown on the graph?"

    You need to explicitly tell Excel what to do with gaps in the data series. Go to "Select Data" and click the "Hidden and empty cells" button. Choose to fill the gaps with a line. This is valid for both lines.

     

    As to why the first data point is not shown, you axis starts at 10, rather than zero. Are you sure the zero-hour values are part of both data series?

     

     

  • Riny_van_Eekelen's avatar
    Riny_van_Eekelen
    Platinum Contributor

    westes 

    "Why would Excel arbitrarily draw a line for only part of the data points shown on the graph?"

    You need to explicitly tell Excel what to do with gaps in the data series. Go to "Select Data" and click the "Hidden and empty cells" button. Choose to fill the gaps with a line. This is valid for both lines.

     

    As to why the first data point is not shown, you axis starts at 10, rather than zero. Are you sure the zero-hour values are part of both data series?

     

     

    • westes's avatar
      westes
      Copper Contributor

      Riny_van_Eekelen Your suggestions solve the problem, thanks.

       

      I removed the zero-hour data point since all yogurts start with the same milk.   The data does not get interesting until about 10 hours into the ferment, as the acids released by the active culture bacteria start to shift the pH lower.

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