Graphing XY coordinates on Cartesian plane

**metload2** · 10-14-2010, 02:02 PM

Hi

I have an Excel doc that is loaded with several sets of XY coordinates that need to be graphed as a scatterplot. I looked around online and most people put the coordinates in separate X/Y columns. I have them in a single column as (x, y) and am wondering if there is a way to graph this. At this point I do not have time to translate into two separate columns, so I was hoping there was another method.

Also, when I do get this to graph, it needs to be on a Cartesian plane with (0, 0) as the origin. I can get a Cartesian plane but can't find how to change the origin.

I have Excel 2010.

Thanks!!

**gmahlert** · 10-14-2010, 02:55 PM

Without resorting to VBA, I wasn't able to use XY data in the form (23 , 67) directly without first splitting the X and Y values apart into seperate columns. Assuming the data is in column A, and the X and Y data are in Cols B and C I used the following formulas to split X and Y apart.

=VALUE(MID(A2,2,FIND(",",A2)-2))
=VALUE(MID(A2,FIND(",",A2)+1,LEN(A2)-FIND(",",A2)-1))

From there you can make a chart in the usual fashion.
I attached a sample worksheet with a chart using this method.

BTW When you say that you want 0,0 as the origin do you actually intend to say that you want all 4 quadrants in the graph with 0,0 in the middle of them? If so, It's just a matter of adjusting each axis to fixed values like -50 to 50 instead of using automatic values.
Gordon

**metload2** · 10-14-2010, 05:17 PM

Thanks!!

I'll use that to separate the data. I originally didn't want to do that because I knew I would need to do it by hand, and that would of been awful!! I have a pretty decent amount of data. This will make it much easier.

And yes, I wanted all four quadrants, changing to fixed values makes sense, I should have thought of that.

I've been learning C++ lately but with VBA integration in Excel I'm tempted to just learn Visual Basic instead. Seems like it would be very useful with Excel.

Thanks again.

**AYData** · 07-30-2013, 09:10 AM

Managed to sort out the scatter chart I have been trying to format for a few weeks thanks to this thread.

**arlu1201** · 08-02-2013, 02:08 PM

AYData,

Unfortunately you need to post your question in a new thread, it's against the forum rules to post a question in the thread of another user. If you create your own thread, any advice will be tailored to your situation so you should include a description of what you've done and are trying to do. Also, if you feel that this thread is particularly relevant to what you are trying to do, you can surely include a link to it in your new thread.