Showing data distribution as bar charts and histograms

Using bar charts and histograms to look at the distribution of data in your chart and drill down into the contents to concentrate on information that is of interest.

Procedure

To open a bar chart or histogram:
  1. Click the Analyze tab, and then in the Gain Insight group, click Bar Charts and Histograms.
    The Bar Charts and Histograms pane opens.
  2. Click the New tab.

    Analyst's Notebook inspects the content of your chart and lists a useful set of bar charts and histograms that apply to your data. Any entry that would produce a bar chart or histogram with just one category or an even spread with just one entry in each category is not displayed in the list.

    Each list entry includes up to three components.

    Component Description

    Label

    		 A description of the bar chart or histogram. For example:
    • Link Type - lists the available types of link on your chart.
    • Label Value - lists the values of chart item labels.
    Count Summary A count of the total number of items on the current chart that match the criteria. This count is split into ends (or entities) and links.
    (as histogram) Any list entry with this component can be opened as a histogram or a bar chart.
    Note:
    To list all possible bar charts and histograms, select the Show All check box.
  3. Enter the name of a property or attribute in the Search properties field.
    The list updates as you type to show the available bar charts and histograms that match your search text.
  4. Click the label to open a bar chart or if (as Histogram) is appended to the label, you can click (as Histogram) to open a histogram.

    You can open as many bar charts and histograms as you want. To open a bar chart but remain on the New page of the Bar Charts and Histograms pane, for example to add further bar charts or histograms, right-click an entry and select Add Bar Chart.

    Note:
    If a bar chart is open for the histogram that you select, you cannot open it as a histogram without first closing the bar chart. In the same way, you cannot open a bar chart without first closing a corresponding histogram. Analyst's Notebook prompts you to change it from one to the other.

Results

Each bar chart that you open appears on the Bar Charts page of the Bar Charts and Histograms pane. By default, if the value for a row in a bar chart is zero, the row is not displayed. To display rows that have a zero value, on the Options page of the Bar Charts and Histograms pane, select the Include Empty Rows checkbox under Bar Chart Rows.

Any histograms that you open appear in a separate Histograms window.

You can now focus on specific chart items or apply filters to investigate your data further. You can also look at combinations of properties by viewing heat matrices for the histograms that are open.