Monday, January 25, 2010

Good Graphs

Post at the Win-Vector blog

The important criterion for a graph is not simply how fast we can see a result; rather it is whether through the use of the graph we can see something that would have been harder to see otherwise or that could not have been seen at all.

Summary of advice:
  • Make important differences large enough to perceive
  • Make important shape changes large enough to perceive: Banking to 45 degrees.
  • Make sure all the data is equally well resolved.
  • If you want to analyze the difference between two processes, then graph the difference, not the processes (or graph both).
  • If you are interested in rate of change, then graph rate of change.

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