Understanding scatterplot charts

We decide to move onto scatterplots, which are also known as scatter charts. These look very similar to line charts but they represent data differently. Line charts show data in a linear fashion, meaning it starts at one point and moves to another point in a given direction. If we are charting data that happens at given time periods, our date line will not jump back and forth in time. On the other hand, scatterplots show trending data but they do it by comparing the data points.

For example, we might look at gross profit in relation to the number of retail stores, or the amount of time a customer spends in the store compared to the total dollar amount they spend. Scatterplots with trend lines allow us to take two datasets that may not appear related, plot them, and see if there is any correlation between them.