Re: st: How to start a bar graph with a minimum other than 0

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

Alternatively, these are time series data. A -reshape- and a line plot
will give you a simpler plot.

Nick

On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am confused. I understand you to want to plot means and to exclude
> 0. You should be able to do that.
>
> The means all lie well within (50, 100) so there should be no problem
> with labels.
>
> By the way, -graph dot- is in my view a better recipe for plotting
> means. You know about advice about starting bars at 0 and prefer to
> override it, but any audience is unlikely all to have the same views.
>
> Nick
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 3:51 PM, Andrew Hsiao <ahsiao@newvisions.org> wrote:
>> They range from 0 to 100, as follows:
>>
>>   stats |  atdpct~p  atdpct~t  atdpct~v  atdpct~c  atdpc~an  atdpct~b  atdpc~ar  atdpc~pr  atdpct~y  atdpc~un
>> ---------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>    mean |  83.61696  84.98656   84.3946  82.84795  79.61899  83.41614  85.06694  84.06865   83.3088  75.68124
>>      sd |  28.94568  27.03967  26.93099  27.17241   27.2614  25.97958  24.33739  25.44562  25.65833  28.19591
>>     min |         0         0         0         0         0         0         0         0         0         0
>>     max |       100       100       100       100       100       100       100       100       100       100
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 10:43 AM
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: Re: st: How to start a bar graph with a minimum other than 0
>>
>> So, it sounds as though you should not start at 50.
>>
>> What is the range of means to be plotted on the y axis?
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Andrew Hsiao <ahsiao@newvisions.org> wrote:
>>> Unfortunately if I use ylabel(50(10)100), it only labels the top part of the y axis.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 10:25 AM
>>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>> Subject: Re: st: How to start a bar graph with a minimum other than 0
>>>
>>> My guess: Your -ylabel()- option insists on a label at 0. Stata is
>>> attempting to follow your instructions and that trumps -exclude0-.
>>>
>>> Nick
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Andrew Hsiao <ahsiao@newvisions.org> wrote:
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> I was trying to create a bar graph with a set of group means. The differences between the groups are not big numerically but I'd like to highlight the differences. I want to  plot the bars at a value other than 0 (not meant to mislead but to make the point of where they differ).
>>>>
>>>> I thought yscale(range(50 100)) would do the trick but it doesn't. Even including exclude0 has no effect. Is Stata trying to keep me honest? Or am I missing something?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for anyone who would shed the light.
>>>>
>>>> Andrew
>>>>
>>>> ============================================================================= the syntax I used:
>>>>
>>>> graph bar (mean) atdpct1011sep (mean) atdpct1011oct (mean) atdpct1011nov (mean) atdpct1011dec (mean) atdpct1011jan ///
>>>>        (mean) atdpct1011feb (mean) atdpct1011mar (mean) atdpct1011apr (mean) atdpct1011may (mean) atdpct1011jun ///
>>>>        if bucket != "Transfer", title(2010-2011 Monthly Average Attendance) ytitle(Average Monthly Attendance) note(* transfer schools not included) ///
>>>>        bar(1, fcolor(ltkhaki) lcolor(gs10)) bar(2, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(3, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(4, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) ///
>>>>        bar(5, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(6, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(7, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(8, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) ///
>>>>        bar(9, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) bar(10, fcolor(gs15) lcolor(gs10)) ///
>>>>        bargap(10) yscale(range(50 100)) ylabel(0(10)100) legend(off) showyvars ///
>>>>        yvaroptions(relabel(1"Sep" 2 "Oct" 3 "Nov" 4 "Dec" 5 "Jan" 6 "Feb" 7 "Mar" 8 "Apr" 9 "May" 10 "Jun")label(angle(45))) ///
>>>>        by(, title(2010-2011 Monthly Attendance) note(* Transfer schools not included; based on monthly ATS RIAS reports)) exclude0
>>>>
>

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