Scatter Plot in Excel

 

Use a scatter plot (XY chart) to show scientific XY data. Scatter plots are often used to find out if there's a relationship between variables X and Y.

Only Markers

To find out if there is a relationship between X (a person's salary) and Y (his/her car price), execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:B10.

Select Scatter Plot Data

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Scatter symbol.

Insert Scatter Plot

3. Click Scatter.

Click Scatter

Result:

Scatter Plot with Only Markers in Excel

Note: we added a trendline to clearly see the relationship between these two variables.

Straight Lines

To create a scatter plot with straight lines, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:D22.

Select Scatter Plot Data

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Scatter symbol.

Insert Scatter Plot

3. Click Scatter with Straight Lines.

Click Scatter with Straight Lines

Note: also see the subtype Scatter with Smooth Lines.

Result:

Scatter Plot with Straight Lines in Excel

Note: we added a horizontal and vertical axis title. The horizontal axis of a scatter plot is a value axis, so you have more axis scaling options (the same as a vertical axis which always is a value axis).