Excel Instructions: Histogram
To open Excel with the actors' age data loaded, click here and it will automatically download the file to your computer. Find the downloaded file (usually in the Downloads folder) and double-click it to open it in Excel.
Now create a histogram of the actors' age data:
- First we need to define the bins that Excel will use to create the histogram. In this case, our minimum data point is 31, and our max is 76. We'll use a bin width of 5, and make bins from 30 to 80:
- In one of the columns near the data, enter these numbers: 30, 35, 40, 45, etc., up to 80.
- Now click the Data tab and select the Data Analysis button. Then choose Histogram in the resulting pop-up window and click OK.
- In the next window, click in the box next to Input Range and select the cells containing your data.
- Then click in the box next to Bin Range and then select the cells containing your bin information.
- Finally, check the box at the bottom of this window marked Chart Output, and then click OK.
- Excel will create a new worksheet containing the histogram and a table with the frequency counts. The histogram is usually pretty small; you can click on it and then drag one of the handles on the outside to enlarge it.
- Histograms shouldn't have spaces between the bars, so right-click on one of the bars and choose Format Data Series. Once the Format Data Series window appears set the gap width to 0% (No Gap).
- Before closing the Format Data Series window, click on Fill & Line tab (paint bucket) on the left, click the Border and select Solid line, and set the color to black.
- Close the Format Data Series window by clicking the X button. You will now see the histogram graph with the new border changes.