Adjusting log scale y-axis


Posted by Irwin F on February 11, 2002 10:20 AM

Does anyone know if it is possible to change the scale settings when choosing the log scale y axis option? With all of my data between 50 and 400, the settings of 10 minimum and 1000 maximum leave a lot of white space on top of and below the data graph. Transforming my original data using the ln() function then plotting the transformed data is not an option, as I need to be able to show the absolute magnitude of the original data points. What I envision is something like that great log graph paper we used back in engineering classes in school, where I can dynamically assign the y-axis values. Thanks in advance.

Posted by Steve Hartman on February 11, 2002 10:33 AM

right click the axis, format axis, scale trab {NT}




Posted by Skrappy on February 11, 2002 2:32 PM

This is a common problem that I have often encountered. It seems that Excel does not support semilog graphing with scales other than powers of 10. If it is really necessary for you to do the graph in Excel, it is possible, but you have to cheat the system (a real pain if you ask me). The way I did it was to create the log scale that you want in one of the columns, and leave blanks between the numbers that you wish to use on your scale. Then you choose a scatterplot and have the column you created as the y-axis. This should solve the problem.
Hope this helps