creating a mean line in a bar graph
 

I would like to create a mean line for a bar graph with a data series that
includes 5 categories. The trick is that I would like to create the mean line
using only 4 of the categories (the fifth is don't know). Any ideas of how I
can select only 4 of the 5 to create a mean reference line? Thanks.

creating a mean line in a bar graph
 

Assuming the bar chart has vertical bars (i.e., it is what Excel considers a
column chart)...

In a column adjacent to the one containing your data, in the first row add
the formula to calculate the average (=AVERAGE({cell1:cell4}). In the next
row enter ={previous cell} Copy this down to the next 3 cells. Add this new
column to your chart. In the chart, select the new column, then select Chart
| Chart Type... | and select the first option in the Line chart category.

If you want the line to span the entire width of the chart, see Jon
Peltier's http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/...orzSeries.html In
fact, he uses AVERAGE in his example so you can follow along as long as you
create the average by excluding the last point in your data set.

--

Tushar Mehta
http://www.tushar-mehta.com
Custom business solutions leveraging a multi-disciplinary approach
In Excel 2007 double-click to format may not work; right click and select
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"SDK" wrote:

I would like to create a mean line for a bar graph with a data series that
includes 5 categories. The trick is that I would like to create the mean line
using only 4 of the categories (the fifth is don't know). Any ideas of how I
can select only 4 of the 5 to create a mean reference line? Thanks.