What is Area Chart?

What are the common charts do you know? Yes, we have a bar graph and a column chart. What else? An area chart is also used by many. But what is it? What makes it different from a column or bar chart?

Area Chart – What is It?

An area chart is a type of bar chart, usually with axes on the vertical and horizontal. Area charts are typically used to illustrate change over time.

The area between the two lines indicates that there has been some form of growth or decline in value for the period represented by each data point (usually a year).

In this way it is similar to a line graph, but unlike a line graph an area chart can show both positive and negative changes so long as they are balanced on either side against one another. The space under an up-trending curve may be shaded light green; similarly, any down-trending areas would also be shaded dark brown. This shading gives viewers more information about what kind of movement is taking place over the entire duration of time represented by a given chart, rather than just at one point in time.

An area chart is used to represent the change in a quantity within a specific period of time. Similar to a line graph, the data points are plotted and connected by a line segment. This is done to present the value of one or more quantities over time.

For that reason, many people are quite confused between a line graph and an area chart. But they are different. Area charts, for example, have an area that’s filled with shading or color.

Types of Area Charts

There are two types of area charts. These are stacked area charts and the overlapping area chart.

A stacked area chart is usually utilized to show categories distribution, in which the total is not important.

In an overlapping area chart, on the other hand, you have to guarantee that the information is not hidden in the background.

Area Chart Usage

Just like the other tools, an area chart is a flexible solution. In fact, it is used in the following:

Examine a part-to-whole relationship. A stacked area chart gets this job done as effectively as possible. When you need to study a part-to-whole relationship, a stacked area chart will be your best bet.

Compare categories. It’s hard to find the starting or endpoint a data plot in an overlapped area chart because it requires some calculation. But you might find it easy and simple after some time.

An area chart can also be used to determine the magnitude of change or compare a number of categories.

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