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Comparing column charts and bar charts: Pros and cons

Comparing column charts and bar charts: Pros and cons - Microsoft Excel Tutorial

From the course: Excel Tips Weekly

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Comparing column charts and bar charts: Pros and cons

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- [Instructor] In Excel, 2 the most common chart type for most users 3 is what we call a column chart, 4 and I often hear many people refer to column charts, 5 that's like the two charts on the left hand side 6 of the screen here, as bar charts. 7 In Excel, we want to keep those terms distinct and different. 8 They're very similar, of course, 9 the kind of charts we're talking about. 10 The two charts on the left, 11 the ones with the green and blue background, 12 are what we call column charts. 13 Think of those as being rotated 90 degrees, 14 and what do we have to the right 15 in the orange and yellow chart backgrounds? 16 Bar charts. 17 The question sometimes comes up, which one is better? 18 I think, most of the time, a column chart is better, 19 but part of it depends upon 20 the nature of the data being depicted. 21 If you're comparing the two charts on top, 22 same data, 12-month period, 23 it looks like…

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