Scientific Notation Display on Charts

**Exceldummy16** · 05-03-2013, 10:15 PM

In my scatter plot I have a set of x values that are in scientific notation (for example 2.98 * 10^3). Is there a way that I can make my x values appear just as the "base" (for example 2.98), without manually changing all of the cells to just the "base number"?

Thanks,
Exceldummy16

**MrShorty** · 05-04-2013, 01:14 AM

Are the numbers all x.xx*10^3? If so, you could maybe use the comma , in a number format code to scale the number by 1000. Perhaps the code 0.00,
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...372.aspx?CTT=1

**Exceldummy16** · 05-12-2013, 09:12 PM

Sorry for taking so long to reply...

That code doesn't work and no not all of the numbers are x.xx*10^3

This is my data:
0
2.98E-03
5.96E-03
8.94E-03
1.19E-02
1.49E-02
1.79E-02

Thanks for your help.

**MrShorty** · 05-12-2013, 10:58 PM

The comma code works well for numbers greater than 1, which is what I understood from the first post. With numbers less than 1, I have not found any good way to format "scaled" values without actually changing the values. This does not necessarily mean "manually changing all of the cells." You would just need some formula in an adjacent column with an appropriate multiplication factor to scale them, then use that column for the plotted values.

What exactly do you want for output? Do you really want to show the mantissa exactly as is (2.98,...,1.19,...) so that the last three values are smaller than the first three values, or do you want to scale the numbers by a constant value (1000) so that you get 2.98,...,11.9,14.9,...? For the latter, it will be really easy -- something like =A1*10^3 will be sufficient. For the former, you will need to use =INT(LOG(A1)) or similar to return the exponent before doing the multiplication.

**Exceldummy16** · 05-13-2013, 12:13 PM

Wow, that's really simple. Thanks for your help. I was trying to do the second situation you stated. All that I had to do (like you said) was create a formula in the first cell (A1*10^3) and drag it down. Then, I created a chart with those x values.

Thanks,
Exceldummy16