How To Add Error Bars In Excel Step By Step With An Example

How to Add Error Bars in Excel? (Step by Step)

How to Add Custom Error Bars in Excel?

We can also make custom error bars apart from the three error bars, i.e., error bars with standard error, error bars with standard deviation, and error bars with percentage.

In the below screenshot, the error bars with standard errors are given. All the data points in the series display the amount of error in the same height for Y error bars and the same width for X error bars.The below screenshot shows that the straight line is drawn from the minimum of the maximum value, i.e., “Red maple” overlaps with the outermost value of the species “Black maple.” It signifies that the data for one group is not different from the other.

“Error Bars with Standard Deviation” is the average difference between the data points and their mean. Usually, a one-point standard deviation is considered while creating the error bars. The standard deviation is used when the data is normally distributed, and the pointers are usually at equal distances.A line is drawn on the maximum data point, i.e., “Red maple” coincides with the maximum error point of “Black maple.” It signifies that the data for one group is not different from the other.

The minus display is the error to the lower side of the actual value. So, click on the “minus” tab.

Similar to minus, the plus can also be taken, representing the error to the upper side of the actual value. Therefore, click on the “plus” tab.

We can also visualize the error bars without the cap. For example, in the vertical error bars tab, we need to click or select direction as an end style and no cap.

Things to Remember

The error bars in Excel are the graphical representation that helps visualize the variability of data given on a two-dimensional framework.It helps indicate the estimated error or uncertainty to give a general sense of how accurate a measurement is.The accuracy is understood by the marker drawn over the original graph and its data points.The Excel error bars display the standard error, standard deviation, or percentage value.Error bars are usually by drawing cap-tipped lines extending from the center of the plotted data point.The error bars’ length usually helps reveal the uncertainty of a data point.Depending on the length of the error bars, we can estimate the error. For example, a short error bar shows that the values are more concentrated, directing that plotted average value is more likely to be reliable. On the other hand, the error bar indicates that the values are more spread out and are less likely to be reliable.We can customize error bars through the more error bars option.In the case of skewed data, the length on each side of the error bars would be unbalanced.The error bars usually run parallel to the quantitative scale axis. Therefore, the error bars can be visualized horizontally or vertically depending on whether the quantitative scale is on the X-axis or the Y-axis.