Error Bars
Error bars can be displayed for each point on a graph in the horizontal and/or vertical directions. You can choose to have the errors calculated as a relative or absolute error for each point, or you can set a custom error for each point by creating a column that contains a relative or absolute error value for each point. For example, suppose that the sensor you are using has a known error of +/- 0.5. You can choose Error Constant and enter 0.5 as the value for the error. Alternately, suppose you have calculated the error for each point and created a manual entry column that contains those values. As described below, choose Use Column and select the column that contains the values you have calculated.
Define How Error Bars are Calculated
- Use the Options tab in the Column Options dialog to set up how you want the error calculated for a particular column. To display the Column Options dialog, double-click the column name in the data table, or choose Column Options from the Data menu.
- Check Error Bar Calculations to turn on error bars for the column. Note: You can turn off the error bars for a column by unchecking Error Bar Calculations.
- Choose Percentage or Fixed Value.
- Choose Error Constant or Use Column. If you choose Error Constant, enter the value as a percentage or a fixed value, depending on your choice in the previous step. If you choose Use Column, select the column that contains the error values.
- Select OK.
Display Error Bars on a Graph
Error bars are automatically turned on in both the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) directions. Turn off error bars in one or both directions using the Graph Options dialog.
- To display the Graph Options dialog, double-click the graph or choose Graph Options from the Options menu.
- Uncheck X Error Bars and/or Y Error Bars and select OK.