Histogram

A Histogram shows a smoothed distribution of values for a continuous field. It can only be used with numeric fields: integer or double storage types. Learn about each Histogram feature below:

Orientation: chart direction.

A Histogram may spread its numeric field values along the horizontal axis (the default) or the vertical axis. Horizontal alignment is most common, but vertical alignment allows more space for labels. Note that in vertical mode, positive values increase in the upward direction.
From: Chart Toolbar "Rotate Chart"; Advanced Property "Orient Horizontal".

Weighting: choose what height represents.

By default, the height of the Histogram at a particular point along the X axis is proportional to the number of items (rows) that occur at or near the corresponding value in the range.
Optionally, the Histogram's contour may be determined by the sum of values from a second numeric "Measure" field that correspond to primary field values occurring at or near each point along the X axis.

Stacked: color stacking shows contributions from another field.

If the table for a Histogram is colored, the aggregate contribution from data of each color is shown "stacked" in the Histogram display. This lets you see how values of another field correlate with values of the Histogram field(s).
Optionally, color stacking can be disabled, and the Histogram is displayed in the default "Selected" (and "Unselected") color(s).

Transform X Axis: use different scale transforms to better see data.

By default the X axis is shown with a "linear scale": values from the field are plotted at distances from the origin that are directly proportional to the length of the axis versus the range of values. Distance increases at the same rate as values increase.
You can instead use a different transform for the axis, a log or root scale. With these, distance from the origin is proportional to the log or square root of the field values. Thus "long tails" of outlier values are compressed, and more space is given to values near the origin. This is useful for data that is highly skewed, for example with a few large values but many smaller values. Applying a transform can allow you to see finer contours at the lower end of the scale.
Use this if your data appears to be "squished" to the left, to allow you to see more detail.
From: Chart Toolbar "Distribution Scale", Advanced Property "Distribution Transformation".

Control smoothing: how smooth the chart appears.

The histogram is "smoothed": the curve drawn spreads out the effect of each data point continuously rather than follow them exactly. You can control the degree of smoothing in 11 steps.
Note that the Histogram contour depends partly on the size of the chart in pixels.
From: Keyboard ("+" and "-" keys), Advanced Property "Smoothing".

Missing values: data that isn't there.

The data field may contain "missing" values: a special indicator that no value was recorded for certain observations. It can be important to know the relative proportion of missing values in the data set.
Missing values are not represented in a Histogram display by default, but you can choose to show their relative magnitude in a disjoint area at the low end of the X axis.
You may also change the string that is used to label missing values; this string is used by all views, not just the current view.
From: Advanced Property "Show Missing Values".

Title and labels: how is the chart labeled?

The chart may have a title; by default a generated title is shown. This title may be changed via the "Chart Titles" dialog or the "Title" property, the font may be changed, or the title may be hidden (from the "Chart Titles" dialog or the "Display Title" property).
From: Chart Toolbar "Edit Chart Titles...", Advanced Properties "Axis Font", "Display Title", "Label Font", "Title", "Title Font", "X Axis Text", "Y Axis Text".

Last updated 4 years ago