Set up your data table and enter data

You can enter column headings for the data table by clicking on each field in the column heading and typing values:

Column name: text name for the quantity in this column
units: the units of measurement for this quantity if the column is a number
variable: an abbreviated name for the quantity, such as t for time, or T for temperature.

Click the three dot menu on a row or column to see what options you have:

Column Settings lets you configure how data is displayed, such as numerical or text, as well as how many significant figures, scientific notation etc.
Change Column Formula lets you use a formula to calculate values for this column.
Insert Column Right, Insert Column Left, or Remove Column

To clear data from your data table, click the gear icon in the top-left corner of the table. Note that this option will NOT appear to an instructor doing an assignment in Preview mode. It will only appear to students working on the assignment.

Add more columns, and create columns with formulas

If needed, you can add additional columns, or add formulas to columns to do calculations on your data.

Create your Graph

If your graph settings don't look like what you're seeing below, then you'll need to see our help article on our legacy graphing tool.

Once you've got your data collected you can set up your graph, click the gear icon in the top-right to open the graphing menu.

Vertical Axis

Select a column from your data table to plot on the vertical axis
By default, the axis title is the name of the data column. Enter a custom name here if you'd like.
Add additional columns to graph on the vertical axis. Each data set will have a different color and data point icon.

Horizontal Axis

Select a column from your data table to plot on the horizontal axis
By default, the axis title is the name of the data column. Enter a custom name here if you'd like.

Please note: Unlike the vertical axis, only one data column can be graphed on the horizontal axis at a time. If you want to change what's graphed here, select a new column.

Curve Fits

Click the dropdown menu to apply a curve fit function to each data column. You can see the curve fit parameters at the bottom of the graph.

The equation for the line will appear below the graph with curve fit parameters A and B
"A" represents the slope of the line.
"B" represents the y-intercept of the line
RMSE stands for Root Mean Squared Error and it tells you how closely the fit matches the data. A lower RMSE generally means a closer fit.
To display uncertainty with the fit, check the Display Curve Fit Uncertainty box.

You can click on data points on the graph to include/exclude them from the curve fit calculations.

Lastly, here are instructions on converting a position vs time graph to a velocity vs time graph

Graph Settings

By default, the title of a graph is Vertical axis name vs. horizontal axis name. Enter a different name here if you'd like.
Graph your data using a scatter plot, line plot, or bar graph.

View Options

Force the origin to be shown on the graph.
Show the graph legend
Autoscale the axes to minimize extraneous whitespace on the graph.

Customize table and graph settings for your students

Here's how you can customize what settings appear to your students' data table and graphs

Find the activity in your library
Click Edit
Click Activity Content
Find the section with the data table, click to expand it
Find the Data Table and Graph component, click to expand it.
Click Table & Graph Settings

Lets you convert the new data table and graphing interface to our legacy interface.
Allows students to add uncertainty bars to their graph.
Select which curve fits are available to students.
Select which graph types are available to students.
Select which additional options are available to solutions.

Column Statistics

Checking the Column Statistics box allows students to calculate total, median, standard deviation, and mean of a column. They simply need to click Calculate at the bottom of a column and select the value you'd like to calculate.

Using LaTeX in table headers

Students can use LaTeX in table headers to better format variables and expressions.

Click the header you want to edit
Change the Text dropdown to LaTeX
Type in the LaTeX expression

If this feature doesn't appear to students, then the instructor must enable it by editing the activity:

Find the activity in your library
Click Edit
Click Activity Content
Find the section with the data table and click to expand it
Find the data table component and click to expand it.
Click Table & Graph Settings
Check the Show Formula Bar box
Click Confirm
Click Save at the top of the page.