non-linear scale on Y-axis

[Wendy Moncur]

Is it possible to have a non-linear user-specified scale on
a Y-axis?

I have a column chart showing deviation from "normal". It
has to have a positive and a negative.
"zero" should be 100%. The positives are eg 200%, 300%,
400%, 500%. The negatives are eg 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, 0%.

I want a column which is 500% to be the same length as a
column for 20%. I want a column at 200% to be the same
length as a column for 50%. The theory being 5 times
"normal" is the same significance as one-fifth normal, and
2 times normal is the same significance as half normal.

At the moment, I have 0% being the same length as 100%. It
makes all the negatives look smaller than they deserve.

Any ideas?

 

[dvt]

I didn't see the original post, so mine is going to appear in an odd order.

I just tried it, and I think you can do what you wish by making the y-axis
logarithmically scaled. Select the y-axis, Format|Selected Axis|Scale
tab|Logarithmic scale. Now a value of 1 shows no bar at all on the chart.
But 0.1 is the same size as 10, 0.5 is the same size as 2, and so on.

As for a user-specified scale, that's another story. See
www.tushar-mehta.com, Flexible log scale if you don't like the scales that
Excel supplies.

I hope this works for you.

Dave
dvt at psu dot edu