Forum Discussion
Pie Chart
Well this is contrary to what MS says you need to do
Copied and pasted from the help
Pie and doughnut charts
Data that's arranged in one column or row on a worksheet can be plotted in a pie chart. Pie charts show the size of items in one data series, proportional to the sum of the items. The data points in a pie chart are shown as a percentage of the whole pie.
Consider using a pie chart when:
- You have only one data series.
- None of the values in your data are negative.
- Almost none of the values in your data are zero values.
- You have no more than seven categories, all of which represent parts of the whole pie.
Types of pie charts
- Pie and 3-D pie Pie charts show the contribution of each value to a total in a 2-D or 3-D format. You can pull out slices of a pie chart manually to emphasize the slices.
How to Insert a Pie Chart
No where in any of this does it say you have to do any calculations or other charts.
If that is the case then MS needs to correct it's instructions. Very frustrating and time consuming when you are trying to do something.
Implicit in
- None of the values in your data are negative.
- Almost none of the values in your data are zero values.
is that the data must be numeric.
- It doesn't say that the values need to be numeric. Having numbers alongside the Male Female data would imply to me two data series ... one for numbers, one for categories. Very confusing. When using help it should spell it out. People trying to learn don't know these things that others "assume"
A chart series has x-values and y-values. The x-values of a series can be text or numbers, but the y-values of a series must ALWAYS be numeric.