Graphs.net

Businesses make use of a lot of graphs aside from the usual bar and pie charts that are generated from tables and spreadsheets. More than just fancy visual aids, these graphs and diagrams make ideas easier to digest and understand, compared to reading paragraphs and pages of explanations.

A flowchart, as the name implies, is a diagram that describes a flow or process. While commonly used in programming or computer-related environments, a flowchart can also be used to map out how a product is supposed to be made from start to finish, for example. It might also detail how certain protocols or processes should be followed.

An organizational chart is probably familiar to almost any business. This shows the structure and layout of an organization, detailing the relationship and relative ranks of different positions within the organization. “Org charts” may vary from simple boxes and lines to more complicated systems where different types of relationships are indicated by different kinds of lines.

Gantt charts are used to illustrate the schedule and flow of a project. Most commonly used in project management, these charts point out the start and target finish dates, breakdown of different tasks in the project, as well as dependencies and relationships of those different tasks. Project management charts such as these are employed in order to more effectively achieve the project goals within certain constraints such as time and budget.

There are many tools available to users for creating these diagrams. Probably the most popular ones come from the Microsoft Office’s productivity suite. Microsoft Excel, as well as Word, can be used to generate bar, line, or pie charts. Visio is tailored to the creation of more complex charts and diagrams, and even wireframe or prototypes for demonstrations. And finally, Microsoft Project is a popular choice for project management and producing Gantt charts. 

Market share refers to the percentage of the total available market segment that is serviced by a company or group. In other words, market share represents a group’s strength in relation with other groups in the same market segment. This can be expressed in terms of a company’s revenues, sales, or users divided by the total number of revenues, sales, or users in that market segment. Since market share involves a lot of figures and data probably spread over a wide geographical area, some amount of professional market research is usually commissioned in order to produce the needed information.

Market graphs present these figures in a visually appealing and easy to digest manner. A list or table would usually require more scrutiny and analysis of the figures in order to give an overall view of the market segment, while a simple graph can more easily give a bird’s eye-view. For this reason, pie charts are commonly used to express market share, as this type of chart, by nature, shows data in relation to the whole, which is exactly what a market share graph should show.

Creating market graphs is easy using any popular spreadsheet application, like Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheet, or OpenOffice.org Calc. Only two columns are necessary, the first column composed of labels indicating the different market segments, while the second column contains the actual figures, either in raw numbers or already in percentage form. Then, with a Chart wizard, a pie chart can be generated from the selected columns, with the columns set as the series of the chart. Make sure to make the percentage legends visible on the pie chart itself. The generated chart can then be used either embedded into the current sheet, together with the figures, or on another blank sheet. 

Creating graphs and charts for reports and presentations is a very common activity, not only in the workplace, but also in schools. Fortunately, there are tools that make creating such charts from a given table of data quick and easy.

Probably one of the most popular tools comes from the Microsoft Office productivity suite. Both Word and Excel have tools for creating charts from spreadsheets. Excel is probably one of the most famous spreadsheet programs around and is used for tables of data. To generate a chart from a spreadsheet, simply highlight the range to be used as the data source, including row and column headers, and then choosing the Chart Wizard either from the toolbar or from the Insert Menu. The Wizard will then take the user through a series of options ranging from the type of chart to be used to whether the chart will plot rows or columns. Since Word is a word processing program, creating a chart involves inserting a pre-made chart and then modifying that to fit the needs and the data. Go to the Insert menu, click on the Object entry and then choose Microsoft Graph Chart as the Object Type.

Google, known for its wide variety of online applications, also has a chart-creating through its Google Spreadsheet. The mechanics of creating a chart is the same as above. Select the range of data to be used, and then select Chart from the Insert menu. A wizard appears letting the user customize the appearance and settings of the chart.

One advantage of using Google Spreadsheets over Microsoft Office is that the data and chart is available from anywhere using just a regular web browser, as long as there’s an internet connection available. However, this distinction is blurring with Microsoft Office Live as an online version of the regular Office suite and with Google Gears allowing offline usage of Google applications. 

A currency graph is a chart of the “movement” of a currency pair over a given period of time, ranging from monthly, to daily, to by the minute updates. A currency pair is the correlation between two different currencies. The first in the pair is the base currency while the second is the quote currency. The currency pair depicts how many units of the quote currency is needed to buy one unit of the base currency. For example, GBP/USD 1.350 means that 1 GBP (British pound) is equivalent to 1.350 USD (U.S. dollars).

These charts are used by technical analysts to study past price movements and predict possible future movements of currency pairs. Fundamental analysts, on the other hand, use these charts to find correlation between trends shown in the charts and events that occur parallel to that, such as politics, economy, weather, and so on. Also, depending on the specific need of a trader, the time range that a chart focuses on can vary. A short-range investor might use a chart that plots currency movement for a single day while mid- to long-term investors might depend on weekly or monthly charts.

The structure of a currency chart is quite simple. The values of the currency pair are mapped on the vertical axis while units of time are placed on the horizontal axis. Price movement is then mapped using lines or candlesticks, the most common type of charts used in market-related graphs.

Due, however, to the dynamic nature of currency charts, it will be quite tedious to graph this movement by hand. In almost all cases, specialized software is used in drawing the graphs. This allows users to adjust the time focus of the chart or monitor different currency pairs. There are also a lot of free currency charts available online that offer up-to-date changes. With the growth of the Internet, technical indicators that were once available only to brokers and professional traders are now available to any trader with a computer.

ASP, or Active Server Pages, is a server-side script engine developed by Microsoft. It is used to create dynamically generated web pages and is used together with Microsoft Server. Like Java and PHP, ASP is used to create content on the fly, usually from a given data source. However, unlike the former two, ASP itself is not a language but a platform, relying on languages such VBScript for the actual code. Being a server-side engine, it removes the burden from the user’s web browser and computer in creating dynamic content and also leverages on Microsoft technology on the server.

Creating an ASP chart to be displayed on a web page, specially from dynamic data sources, is a bit more involved as compared to creating charts from spreadsheets. Programming knowledge, specially in VBScript, is required in order to write the “converter”. The benefits of such an approach, however, include being able to serve graphs that are generated from different data sources on the Internet, or even allowing users to generate charts based on their own input. Writing charts in ASP, or any web-scripting language for that matter, is extremely useful if the task of creating the graph needs to be automated or repeated a number of times, with data coming from variable sources.

ASP.NET, the current incarnation of ASP based on Microsoft’s .NET framework, expands on ASP. Any .NET language, such as VC++.NET, VB.NET, and C#, can now be used to create graphs and charts. It also leverages on the object-oriented nature of the .NET framework, allowing the use of reusable components from other vendors, such as .netCHARTING (http://www.dotnetcharting.com/), for generating accurate and beautiful charts, rather than having to write the code from scratch.

An ECG graph, or electrocardiogram, can sometimes mean life or death for a person. It is the way to determine whether your heart is normal and healthy, or whether you already have conduction abnormalities, prior heart attacks, coronary artery disease. If an ECG reveals the above mentioned abnormalities, further testing needs to be done to be able to fully diagnose what is wrong with the patient.

The ECG consists of 12 views of the electrical impulse generated by the heart. The 6 views on the left half of the ECG (called I, II, III, aVR, aVL, and aVF) are generated by the electrodes on the arms and legs; the 6 views on the right half (V1 through V6) are generated by the electrodes on the chest. From these 12 views, various cardiac abnormalities can be localized to specific areas of the heart.

The “P” wave represents the electrical impulse traveling across the atria of the heart. Abnormalities of the P wave, therefore, reflect abnormalities of the right and/or left atrium.

The QRS complex represents the electrical impulse as it travels across the ventricles. Abnormalities of the QRS are often seen when there has been prior damage to the ventricular muscle, such as in a prior myocardial infarction (heart attack.)

The “T” wave represents the recovery period of the ventricular muscle after it has been stimulated.

The portion of the ECG between the QRS complex and the T wave is called the ST segment. Abnormalities of the ST segment and the T waves are often seen when the heart muscle is ischemic - that is, when it is not getting enough oxygen, usually because there is a blockage in a coronary artery.

To further your audience’s understanding of the business data you are presenting, it is crucial to use business graphs in your presentation. It gives a quantitative analysis to your framework and your data and explains quickly and clearly the complex information you are presenting.

But sometimes, the challenge is to find the exact business graph to best use for your presentation. Let us examine the most common ones and which are the best suited for your type of information.

Histograms are useful when you want to summarize large data sets graphically and you don’t want to confuse them with all the numbers and statistics. It is also useful when you want to compare measurements to specifications; for example, whether the current new process has improved the production of goods in the factory. Lastly, histograms can be a powerful tool to help in the decision making process, since the data is presented in a clear-cut manner, without all the pesky little details that serve as “white noise”.

Bar charts can be divided into two categories. Vertical bar charts work when you have less than five data points and you want to emphasize quantity over a certain period of time. Horizontal bars are best used when you want to show the highest profit, the lowest interest rate, or the most products sold, or you want to rank variables from largest to smallest.

When you’re talking about percentages, portions or shares, a pie graph is the best way to go. However, when you are presenting scientific or technical data, it is not recommended since it’s hard to compare different sections of a pie chart or across different pie charts

When you want to show a growth, decline or a trend over a long period of time and with more than five data points, line graphs are the best way to go. The slope of the line will show the audience at one glance the direction of the data you are presenting

So given the definitions and examples, it is now time to choose which business graph will best suit your presentation.

Tips on Making Graph Reports

Everybody needs to generate a graph once in a while, whether it is a graph of a mathematical function for school or a chart representing the earnings for the second quarter. Some people use specialized tools in their field in order to generate graphs, sometimes from data gathered at a specific point in time, sometimes from live data that updates the graph in real time. Others are quite satisfied using generic tools like report builders and spreadsheet software that are able to generate graphs from the given data. Whatever the tool used, they are just tools. While they certainly make creating graph reports simpler and sometimes even more fun, the most important parts of the job still remains with you. Here are some tips for making effective graphs:

1. The data is of utmost importance. Graphs are merely visual representations of data. The focus is on the data itself, not on how pretty or sophisticated your graph report is. Double check that your data is accurate and make sure that your graph is actually reflecting that data. Even the most beautiful and interactive graph report in the world will fail if it’s showing statistical data about the weather, when your doing a presentation on weather reporters.

1. Be mindful of your colors. They say that presentation is everything. But while data is indeed more important, the colors you choose could distract viewers from properly interpreting the data. Do not use colors that “blend in” with its neighbors, as that could create ambiguous interpretations. But don’t use too much colors that would make your graph look like a psychedelic lava lamp that will make your audience want to tear their eyes out.

1. Do not overload your graphs. The reason why graphs are used instead of presenting raw numbers is to make it easier to digest the information at a glance. A graph becomes useless if it is too crowded to be able to efficiently interpret the data. If possible, try to plot only the key points or make use or make use of the proper graph type that best represents your data. For example, use a 3D scatter plot graph instead of a bubble graph to graph large amounts of data using three values.

With these broad, common sense tips, you should be ready to get that graph software started and start creating that perfect graph report to wow your audience.

Graphs and Charts in Java

Java is a programming language and a platform. As a programming language, it is high-level, fully object oriented, dynamic, and portable. A Java program is simply a plain text file ending with the .java extension. This file is then compiled by the javac compiler into bytecode form. This can then be run on any machine or operating system, which is made possible by the Java platform. Part of this platform is the Java Virtual Machine or JVM which is available on almost all machines. This virtual machine is the one responsible for running the bytecode file and translating it into the machines native language.

This portability, as well as the software ecosystem that has developed around it, has made Java an attractive language to many programmers worldwide. In fact, Java is used everywhere, from computer science courses to mission-critical systems, and even games! Most people, however, will be familiar with Java either through the servers that they maintain or through web applications that they have encountered.

One way in which Java is used is in creating graphs and charts based on certain variables or inputs, such as database usage or network traffic. While most people would present such figures using spreadsheets and slideshow presentations, using Java allows the user to automatically and programmatically generate the graphs, and possibly in real time. And since Java follows a “write once, run anywhere” philosophy, the code used to create a monitoring program can also be run and used remotely from within a web browser.

Java itself, however, does not provide any built-in graphing features. But because of the language’s extensibility, quite a number of add-on libraries have grown to provide such functionality. Some of these libraries are free while others are commercial. Some also offer only basic 2D graphs, though most also have 3D graphs available. Using these libraries, one can create visually appealing but functional, and possibly even interactive, graphs with just a few lines of code.