graphing

Objective:

The object of this activity is to learn how to gather information and place it in a spreadsheet to create a graph.

You are going to pretend that you have surveyed the entire class using the question, “What is your favorite color?” Here is the information that you gathered:

Take the information from above and tally how many liked each color in the table below.

Now go to the computer to create your spreadsheet and graph.

1. Open Microsoft Works. On the Works Tools tab select Spreadsheet.
2. Click in Cell A1. Type the word Blue. Hit the right arrow key on the keyboard.
3. In Cell B1 type the word Green. Hit the right arrow key.
4. Continue doing this until all of the colors have been typed in the first row.
5. Under each color name, type in the number of people who picked it as their favorite color. You can use your mouse to go to the next cell or you can use the arrow keys.
6. Highlight all of this information. To highlight, click your mouse in Cell A1 and drag over to Cell B7. Let go of the mouse. Make sure all of the cells with information in them are highlighted.
7. Under Tools in the menu bar, select Create New Chart. . . A window like this one will appear:

8. Select the type of graph that you want by clicking on the picture. To graph the information about favorite colors, it would be best to choose a bar graph but go ahead and look at the other charts while you are here.
9. Under Finishing touches type the title Favorite Colors. Put a checkmark in the Border and Gridlines squares.
10. Click OK.
11. Your graph will appear.

Now we will change some of the details of the graph.

12. Double click on the words Series 1 at the bottom of your graph. A window will appear. Take the checkmark out of the box next to where it reads Auto Series Label by clicking on it once.
13. A white window will appear under Series Labels. Type in the word Color. Click OK.
14. Double click in the middle of a bar on the graph. A window will appear. You can change the color and pattern of the bars. Play around until you like what you see.
15. Double click on one of the color names. A window will appear allowing you to change the font and style of the text in your graph. Play around until you see what you like.
16. Print your graph.