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I have made a record of some samples at different seconds:

50 40 36 33 32 30 28 25 22 20 17 15 13 10 7 5

When I create a line chart with markers in Excel, the x-axis is based on these values, but of course they are not normalised in the sense that there is the same distance from 50 to 40 than from 22 to 20.

Is there a way I can draw the line with the markers only at the positions I have recorded and that is properly scaled in the x-axis? (so from 50 to 40 there is no data in the middle but the line does not go down to "0", it should just link to the value at 40 smoothly. Format Axis does not seem to do anything here)

EDIT - see graph

enter image description here

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  • The image is what I got... what does not suit is that the x-axis is supposed to be time, and the distance from 50 to 40 (10 seconds) is the same as from 22 and 20 (2 seconds). I would like to have the same graph but properly scaled, so from 50 to 40 there is 10 second axis difference and a smooth line from the measure at 50 to the measure at 40. Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 21:13
  • Correct. This is the process: I select all cells in the three rows, press Insert - Line - Stacked Lined with Markers. And the image is what I get. Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 21:17
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    Oh dear - I see what you mean. The graph type was incorrect! Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 21:22

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Example of Scatter with Smooth Lines and Markers:

SO21739028 example

As the @Jon Peltier has kindly mentioned, prior to this edit I had incorrectly described the above as Scatter with Straight Lines and Markers.

Jon has also pointed out how this happens to be an example of the potential for smooth lines to be deceptive. If the vertical scale were percentages then anything over 100 might not be possible, though the 'bump' in the chart would indicate otherwise!

An alternative with Straight lines is shown below, where 'B' values as displayed have been changed to represent the sum of A and B values, as possibly nearer the OP's requirement:

SO21739028 second example

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5 Comments

How did you plot that? Mine is automatically not scaling the x-axis
Yes, they are text as in your case. I can paste the graph if it makes my problem clearer
I have just written "=50*1", etc, but it made no difference. I tried to format the cells as numbers and had no effect either. Sorry, I did not understand how you got the numbers there - and I think you are suggesting that is the trick, right?
I have updated my question - please see above. I cannot get the same results as you
That's not Scatter with "straight" lines. See how the nearly vertical red segment overshoots 100? If that's 100%, I'm sure it's not supposed to. This is why using curved lines can be deceptive.

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