Single-variable graphs, or univariate graphs, let you look closely at one variable at a time. When you begin to look at your data, it’s important to learn about each variable before looking at how the variables interact with each other. Univariate graphs let you visualize each variable individually.
Histograms, for continuous variables
Bar Charts, for categorical variables
Example of a Histogram
This example uses the Companies.jmp data table, which contains data on profits for a group of companies.
1.
Select Help > Sample Data Library and open Companies.jmp.
2.
Select Analyze > Distribution.
3.
Select Profits ($M) and click Y, Columns.
Distribution Window for Profits ($M)
4.
Histogram of Profits ($M)
One company has significantly higher profits than the others, and might be an outlier. An outlier is a data point that is separated from the general pattern of the other data points.
Quantiles and Summary Statistics reports. These reports are discussed in Analyzing Distributions in Analyzing Your Data.
Example of a Bar Chart
This example uses the Companies.jmp data table, which contains data on the size and type of a group of companies.
1.
Select Help > Sample Data Library and open Companies.jmp.
2.
Select Analyze > Distribution.
3.
Select Type and Size Co and click Y, Columns.
4.
Bar Charts of Type and Size Co
For example, suppose that you want to see the distribution of company size for the pharmaceutical companies. Click the Pharmaceutical bar in the Type bar chart, and the pharmaceutical companies are highlighted on the Size Co bar chart. Clicking Bars shows that although most companies in this data table are small, most of the pharmaceutical companies are medium or big.
Clicking Bars