Comments on: The Purpose of Numbers on a Y Axis

By: Steve Zweig

Steve Zweig — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:21:43 +0000

Someone who sent you a graph like this is either guilty of mentally sloppy thought, or has a lack of respect in your intelligence. Either way, don’t invest.

By: Nari Kannan

Nari Kannan — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:23:01 +0000

If you think this is just a peeve, you should check out two books that form a thesis on this subject. Excellent books I would recommend for your reading list also, Brad!

Author – Stephen Few

Show me the numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

By: Kelly Taylor

Kelly Taylor — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:30:41 +0000

Brad,

This South Park episode comes to mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpants_Gnomes

The Underpants Gnomes have a three-phase business plan, consisting of:

1. Collect Underpants
2. ?
3. Profit

By: Charlie Wood

Charlie Wood — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:36:26 +0000

I would reject the plan that included this graph on aesthetic grounds alone.

-c

PS. Didn’t Greh Reinacker’s first pitch to you lack Y-Axis values? Turned out OK for him…

By: JonKelly

JonKelly — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:43:39 +0000

Brad, you just hit a big pet peeve of mine as well. I think no y-axis numbers is the worst, but closely followed by those who change the scale to make a 2% change look like the numbers have doubled.

By: Pete Kazanjy

Pete Kazanjy — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 01:14:10 +0000

Innumeracy (or deceitfulness) notwithstanding…the author should be spanked if only for the blue tissue background he put the graph on. Bleh.

By: Ole Eichhorn

Ole Eichhorn — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 01:05:58 +0000

I want to know why the Y/Y growth is forecast to be less in 07 than it was in 06. And what about 08? I mean, we’re in October already.

It would be interesting to see how many reasonable questions could be asked of this graph alone…