This post offers reasons for using logarithmic scales, also called log scales, on charts and graphs. It explains when logarithmic graphs with base 2 are preferred to logarithmic graphs with base 10.

However, trend lines can be found in data that form a rough version of a linear relationship. For example, you could look at the daily sales of ice cream and the daily high temperature as the two ...

In “When Should I Use Logarithmic Scales in My Charts and Graphs”, I showed the revenues of the top 60 Forbes 500 companies using both linear and logarithmic scales. The log scale spread out ...

The data look very different when plotted on what is called a logarithmic scale. In a typical graph, values on the (vertical) y-axis are plotted linearly: 1, 2, 3, and so on, or 10, 20, 30, or the ...

Excel defaults to a linear scale for graphs, but you can easily change it to logarithmic to suit wide data ranges or logarithmic phenomena. The Chart Wizard produces graphs with linear scales.

For example, if an asset price has collapsed from $100.00 to $10.00, the distance between each dollar would be very small on a linear price scale, making it impossible to see a big move from $15. ...