Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with graph

Can you help me find a particular Javascript charting library website?

chocolate_butch — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:25:22 -0800

Can you help me find a website about a charting library that I saw recently? I'll be darned if I can find this particular web based charting library, that I believe was javascript based. Here is what I can recall about the website:

- I visited the site in the last 90 days.

it was unlike any other charting site that I had seen before.

- There was a 3-d animated chart on the starting page that resembled the ripples in the surface of water after a droplet hit it.

- each page in the site had large explanatory text on primary color background. pages were rather spare content-wise.

- the site presented the information more like a series of slides that demonstrated the capabilities of the library. Like a ppt slide deck.

- the charting feature may have been part of a larger "ajax" library.

- 3d charts could be animated to spin around like Matrix "bullet-time". IIRC zoom in/out may have also been possible.

- I may have found it either via the blue, reddit or delicious.com/popular . A search through my history is turning up nothing, I think I was on a different computer.

- I recall seeing x-y charts, x-y-z charts, and pie and exploded-pie charts.

Does that ring a bell with anyone?

Help me choose twenty RGB colors that all contrast with each other.

popechunk — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:41:10 -0800

Help me choose twenty RGB colors that all contrast with each other, so that any two of them are distinguishable in a graph. I am using rrdtool to make some graphs from a perl script, and I need a default list of 20 or so colors that are all easily distinguishable from each other when they show up next to each other in an rrdtool graph.

I've seen some other posts on finding a handful of colors that look good together, but I'm looking for the largest set of web colors where any two can be easily distinguished when they show up next to each other.

What is a triangular graph with axes perpendicular to the sides called?

Peter Petridish — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:59:52 -0800

What is the graph or plot called which: - is an equilateral triangle - has three axes - each axes is perpendicular to a side of the triangle? Here is an example, but searching for "likelihood triangle" turns up nothing. I've never heard of that term before.

A triangle plot seems similar, but the axes are at 60 degree angles. Everyone in my laboratory agrees that they are difficult to easily interpret without practice.

Bonus question: Is there an R package which would create such a graph?

Thanks!

dual for a planar graph

yegga — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:15:46 -0800

Can you please draw me the dual of this planar graph. In case it isn't clear: the little circles are tangential to the vertices of the square and tangential to the big circle. There are only four nodes: the four vertices of the square.

Also: please point me to a generic method of finding a dual for a planar graph if you know of one.

What's the optimal amount to spend on this raffle?

boghead — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:04:13 -0800

There's a monthly raffle at work for 5 parking spaces out back. There are about 30 people in my office. There's no limit to the amount of tickets you can buy. You can only win once. Otherwise, parking costs about $4 a day, or about $80 a month. Raffle proceeds go to charity. What's the optimal amount to spend on this? I should tell you also that this question is purely academic because the raffle has been discontinued. But I still want to know what you all think because work is boring as all get out.

What's the best way to figure this out? One friend said she'd use a stats program, another said Matlab. I was thinking maybe a nice line graph with asymptotes and bright colors and such?

I figure the absolute most you would want to spend on this raffle would be $80, only because it goes to charity. Also, I'm assuming no one else in the office ever bought more than 2 or 3 tickets.

I'm looking for a website about/for people that like to collect data about themselves.

SouthCNorthNY — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:49:41 -0800

I'm looking for a website about/for people that like to collect data about themselves. I'm talking about people that like to plug in what they ate, distance walked, money spent, hours slept ect. into a spreadsheet or program and chart their life.

How to graph this data?

nitor — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:33:48 -0800

I'm looking for a way to graphically represent data that is basically "yes" or "no". I am writing a research report on case study of a specific pathology where, through a series of 8 treatments, I have measured results of "special tests". There are 3 tests that were measured each treatment, the results of which are either positive or negative.

I'm looking for a way to graphically represent these data points to include in my research paper, as the test results show the progress of the treatments (a negative test implies resolution). Any thoughts?

Here's my data, if it helps... (not sure how it will render):

Session Phalen's test Prayer test Tinels sign
1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1
3 0 0 1
4 0 1 1
5 0 1 1
6 0 0 1
7 0 0 0
8 0 0 0

0=negative result, 1=positive

How do I work out an average spend?

Gisela — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:07:22 -0800

ExcelFilter: I want to calculate an average food spend, but the days I buy food are irregular throughout the month. How can I draw up a table/graph that gives an average based on a date and amount (for OpenOfficeCalc)? My best idea was to divide each spend by the days in between, but surely there is a better way to do this?

I'd like to end up with a graph with the date along the bottom too, but even that defeats me.

Please hope me!

Help me graph lab utilization

sbutler — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:14:31 -0800

Please help me make more meaningful graphs for my boss! Our department runs computer labs on campus, and being the end of the school year we're looking at utilization rates. I can give him: number of users served per hour; number of machines used per hour; and average session time per hour. What he also wants is some sort of utilization, or fill factor graph. But none of us can really figure out what formula to use. What do I mean by utilization/fill factor? Consider this example: Suppose a lab has 60 seats. Just by chance, 30 users come in sequentially, each using a different machine, for 2 minutes. That is:

* 00:00 - 00:02: user A uses machine01.
* 00:02 - 00:04: user B uses machine02.
* 00:04 - 00:06: user C uses machine03.

etc. Now, obviously the lab wasn't very utilized. But the graph will show we serviced 30 people in that hour, using 30 machines! We could have happily serviced all 30 people with one machine, however, the you can't see that from the graph.

That's a pathological case, but I think it illustrates what I mean. How do we measure this in a meaningful way? It seems to me that with the variables I have (login_count, login_average, host_count) I should be able to somehow derive a utilization but I'm stuck.

Note: I also have complete control over the data source and how these variables are built. So if I need to get a different number, or generate numbers a different way, please let me know!

A question about graphs

crapmatic — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:34:23 -0800

On blank graph paper, what is the mathematically proper name for any random line you see on the page? It wouldn't be "coordinate" since that refers to the line's value. It wouldn't be "grid" since that refers to all of the visible lines. It wouldn't be "axis" since there can be only one in each direction. I'd also be cool with the name for all of the lines (as a set) that are parallel to one another. Thanks!

Software for making clever information visualizations?

anthill — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:17:13 -0800

How to make clever visualizations from Excel or CSV data? Any free, flexible information-graphic scripting software out there? I'd like to make a stream graph or an emergent dot graph (like this one) using some time-stamped, categorical spreadsheet data.

Any recommendations for a graphing toolkit that can generate info graphics from CSVs?

How to "select all" drawing objects in Word?

roxie110 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:46:13 -0800

Is it possible to "select all" drawing objects at one time in Word 2000 (in order to move them together) rather than holding down the SHIFT key and selecting them individually? I need to add titles to the axes of a graph that's a picture embedded in a Word document. Right now, the margins of the picture don't allow room for this. I can adjust the bottom margin of the picture but when I try to adjust the left margin, the graph just moves to the left, so I can't make room for the axis title that way.

The solution I've come up with, since I can't seem to enlarge the canvas of the picture (does anyone know how?), is to move all the elements of the graph to the left. Currently, I have to select each element using the SHIFT key, then move them together, which is time-consuming (there are TONS of little "pieces") and can lead to errors. I'd love to be able to select all elements at once and move them at once. I thought "Group" might work, but you still have to select individually. Help!

(PS--If more recent versions of Word provide a solution, I'd love to hear it.)

Charting little squares

TrashyRambo — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:02:06 -0800

What's the best way to produce a graph like this in Excel? (Or should I be using a different graphing package?)

Progression-tracking via Excel?

booticon — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:56:30 -0800

YAEQ: How would I generate a chart in Excel 2007 that tracks, not towards a goal per se, but progress of a value over a length of time? I'm trying to generate a chart in Excel 2007. I have a spreadsheet with only two columns--one with a date and one with an integer. I'm trying to generate a chart that tracks progress where the integers accumulate, so the sum of the values would be at the top of the value axis. The "history" of values would accumulate towards said sum.

FWIW, sorry if this has been asked before. My Excelfu is weak and I'm not quite sure if I have the terminology before. That said, Google didn't help me very much either. Conceptually it seems easy enough and is probably a stupid function. I'm sorry if I made this more complicated than it actually is.

Live graphing in .NET, for free

matthewr — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:05:53 -0800

What's the best way of adding a "live" graph to my .NET WinForms application, similar in behaviour to the scrolling CPU usage and pagefile graphs found in Task Manager? Must be free, not too ugly, and not too processor-intensive.

Per VHost Apache Bandwidth Stats

Brian Puccio — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:56:14 -0800

Linux/Unix Admin Filter: What is your preferred method for monitoring bandwidth use per virtual host in Apache? I could just log everything and run AWStats/Webalizer/whatever, but that seems overkill when all I really want is a MRTG or RRD Tool graph for each virtual host to indicate bandwidth used the last day, week, month and year. Do you use the impossible to find mod_watch or something else?

Graphing data from web over time

jestonb — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:57:04 -0800

I have created an excel spreadsheet that pulls data from the web, it works great. The only problem is that I can't tell if the data has changed over time. The website that I am pulling from doesn't track changes over time but it would be helpful for me. Is there a way to graph the data over time?

Formatting charts in Illustrator CS3

special-k — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:03:16 -0800

How do I format an entire data series for a chart in Illustrator CS3? I’m new to illustrator and am having a hell of a time formatting a graph. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to format an entire data series at the same time. Say I have a bar chart with two data series, A and B. I can’t just click on A and change the color for all the bars and the legend at the same time. I have to click each individual bar, and then the legend and change the color, which seems very tedious and needless.
I also have plenty of line charts where I have to select each segment of each line to change the color, which is way more frustrating. I’m sure there’s a simpler way, I just don’t know how. Can anyone tell me a simpler way to do this?

Bonus: Know of any blogs/video tutorials where I can learn to get better at making charts in Illustrator CS3? Book suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks!

How can I display colorful directed graphs on the web?

christonabike — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:52:17 -0800

How do I take a graph that looks like this and display it in a web friendly format? Oh, and there's 300,000 of them. The graph linked is a screenshot of a postscript file generated by the "dot" portion of Graphviz. Essentially, I have a bunch of flat text files describing directed graphs (i.e. which nodes are linked to which and what color the links/nodes should be). I need to display these directed graphs on the internet. The nodes on the graph need to be clickable, as well.

Ideally, the processing to turn the text file into the graph would also be done on the client side, but this isn't necessary. The graphs don't need to be capable of being manipulated, but that would be cool as well. The best idea I've got so far is to use Flash/ActionScript and do something similar to this, but I've never actually used flash so I have no idea if it will scale well or can even actually do what I want it to.

Is there a website that has graphs of stock price in non-quoted currency

caek — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:23:53 -0800

Is there a finance website that can plot historical and current graphs of a stock price in a currency other than that of its local exchange, e.g. the stock price of IBM in USD multiplied by the (moving, not current!) EUR:USD exchange rate? If this is easy to do on Google or Yahoo Finance then I'm obviously missing something!

Help me create a visualization of a corporate family tree

blahblahblah — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:00:44 -0800

I need help putting some data in a pleasing graphical form. In short, it is a history of a particular industry, with all of the companies, their founders and where they came from. I would like to build some sort of corporate family tree like this famous one. Does anyone know any good tools for this?

Is this what traffic-shaping looks like?

Mo Nickels — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:10:31 -0800

What would cause web site traffic to rise and then hit a plateau for the middle of each day before falling again? The image below is a graph of a typical day of web browser traffic from one of my web sites. See that plateau between the two yellow bars? That's what's bugging me. Unique visitor traffic doesn't look like that—or never has before—for any of my sites until I moved this one to a new provider.

For a site like this, with about 3000 unique web visitors a day, the site arc should normally be curved, more or less having a round hump in the middle of the day. (The darker green area is page views, which does tend to be more jagged and less humped.) The yellow dotted line is more or less what I would expect.

My theory is that my service provider is doing traffic-shaping for what I consider to be low levels of traffic and might be delaying or denying HTTP requests in order to preserve bandwidth. Do you think that's what is illustrated by this graph? If not, how would you explain it?

I thought that it might be that Mint, my traffic-measuring software, isn't getting all the uniques, but that plateau is more or less borne out by Google Analytics. I say "more or less" because no two traffic-measuring programs do it the same.

http://www.doubletongued.org/flattop_stats.gif

making a cartoon graph

buttercup — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:22:13 -0800

I would like to make a bar graph that looks more like an drawing then a graph. Any ideas on software? I have a series of data with three columns of information:
-elevation range (categorical)
-total area of each class
-area of a subsection of each area

I have made a graph that looks like a standard horizontal bar graph, however I would like to make a more 'cartoony' graph that looks like a crosssection of a mountain, kinda like this crude ascii art

400m      *#
300m     ***#
200m    **####
100m  **######

This data is to show that the higher that you go up on the mountain the greater the percentage of protected land there is and I think this may be an effective way of communicating this to my audience.

Any ideas of how to make this graph easily? I have some access to Deltagraph and other graphing software as well as Illustrator.

In search of free online tool for creating radial graphs!

cortex — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:47:20 -0800

Are there any free online tools for generating radar (aka radial, spider, star) graphs/charts? The ideal tool would be easy to use dynamically and/or against large sets of data to generate multiple graphs.

I know that Google Documents, for example, provides a lot of graph/chart options, but not this specific sort. On the other end, I'm solid with perl and aware of e.g. radial.pm, but I'd love to find a slick, existing start-to-finish tool rather than having to roll some or all of it myself.

Any ideas?

What's the best way to create a large, complex, flexible UML diagram?

grumblebee — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:54:45 -0800

I need to spec out a huge, complex application in UML. I'm looking for good tools/techniques to do this in a fluid situation, where there are a ton of classes and new ones will be added all the time. My team is going to write a gargantuan program. We need to spec it, and I'm expecting we'll spend two or three weeks on the spec, before writing a line of code. It's vital that the finished spec be clear, rational, utilitarian and scalable. I've gotten to that point before, on other projects, but never on one this large. And my way of getting there is to make many drafts of the spec.

During draft stages, I continually refine the spec by adding new classes, removing redundant ones, etc. So the entire UML chart needs to be revised maybe 50 times before it's done.

The only UML tools I've used are graphical-UI ones, where you have to draw little boxes and drag connectors between them. But the thought of doing that on this project makes me queasy. It would mean continually dragging tons of boxes around to make space for new ones.

Here's what I'd like:

-- a way to create the graph via XML or something similar. The XML could be fed into an application that would spit out a diagram.

-- the XML/outline/whatever is easy to modify, in terms of adding new classes, relationships, etc.

-- when done, we could PRINT the whole diagram as a giant chart which we could hang on the wall. I guess it would have to be on many sheets of paper that we'd tape together. But we'd really like to be able to view the entire model at once.

Does such an app exist? If not, I'm very open to analog approaches. Is there a good method of doing something like this with tons of index cards (one for each class) tacked to the wall or something?

I'm sure other teams have faced this problem. How have the solved it?

We're Mac and Linux based, but if the best solution is PC-only, we could go that way via parallels.

If it matters (and I'm not sure why it would), this will be a web app coded in Actionscript 3.0.