Using Uncertainty Bars on Graphs

Also called Error Bars, you can easily add these to any quantity on a graph.

Peter Bohacek avatar
Written by Peter Bohacek
Updated over a week ago

When plotting data on a graph in Pivot Interactives, you can add uncertainty bars, or error bars to any quantity on the graph. Here's how.

  • Create a column in your data table for the values for the uncertainty of another column.

  • Either manually enter data into the uncertainty column, or use a formula to create data in the column.

  • When configuring the axes of the graph, select the data table column to use as uncertainty for the quantity graphed on that axis.

Here's an example. The data table below has position vs time data for a moving object. We'll create a new column for the uncertainty values for position, and populate it with a fixed value of 2 cm. Then, we'll select that column for the uncertainty of the position on the graph:

Instead of using a constant value of 2 cm as the uncertainty, we could use a formula to generate the uncertainty values. For example, maybe the uncertainty is 10% of the measured value:

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