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COVID case numbers) or exponential decay (e.g. Linear-log plot (when the vertical axis is a log scale): choose exponential - this type of trend is common in data with exponential growth (e.g.You can either turn one axis into a log scale or both axes into log scales and selecting the following options will draw a straight-line correlation between the two variables. You can learn more about log scales in our 3-part blog post about log scale. If your data plot looks exponential and logarithmic, you might also want to consider changing one of your axes to a log scale. How the trend lines look differently when choosing a log scale If your data increases rapidly but then flattens to a plateau, logarithmic might be a good fit. The exponential curve cannot take zeros or negative values. If your data increases at an increasing rate or decreases at a decreasing rate, then exponential might be a good fit. If your data values don't resemble a straight line or a fluctuating curve but increase or decrease rapidly then consider either exponential, logarithmic, or power. Quadratic (Order 2 polynomial trend line) has one curve in the trend line. These are part of what's called the polynomial trend lines. If your data fluctuates (goes up and down) and resembles a curved line, choose quadratic or cubic. If your data values resemble a straight line but selecting linear doesn’t fit the data best, then you can also draw one yourself by selecting custom. This is probably the most common trend line and the one that's easiest to understand. If your data values increase/decrease at a constant rate and resemble a straight line, then choose linear. Datawrapper allows you to draw some of the most useful ones: Linear There are many ways you can draw a trend line. Datawrapper doesn't calculate this for you, but calculating it might help you determine whether a trend line is a good enough fit or not.) Trend lines you can draw in Datawrapper (This accuracy is sometimes shown as the R-squared value or the coefficient of determination (a number from 0 to 1 where 1 is the most accurate). That is, in the image below, to keep the total distance of the red lines as small as possible: Ideally, you should choose the trendline where all data points have the smallest distance to the trendline. If the data is forced to fit a trend line, it may be more misleading than helpful. You have 7 options: Which trend line to choose Should you draw a trend line at all?įirst, it may be a good idea to question whether it's worth drawing a trend line at all. You can find the option Trend line at the bottom of Refine tab in Step 3: Visualize: How the trend lines look differently when choosing a log scale.Trend lines you can draw with Datawrapper.Choose the line that fits the data best.In a scatter plot, a trend line is great for showing a correlation in your data. If your data points are scattered all over the chart, a trend line is useless – but if you see a trend in the data that you want to show, Datawrapper can draw a trend line for you.
