Often you'll want your X column of an XY table to be a regular series of values. Prism offers two ways to do this.

Using the Insert Series command

 

Follow these steps to insert an arithmetic or geometric series:

1.Place your insertion point in the first cell of the series. Alternatively select the entire range that you want to contain the series.

2.Drop the Insert menu and choose Create Series... Or click the corresponding button in the Change portion of the toolbar.

3.Enter the number of values you intend the series to have. If you preselected a range of values, Prism will default to the number of rows in that range. Also enter the first value, and the rule to increment other values.

Notes:

•You'll usually want to create a series in the X column of any XY table, but you can insert a series in any column of any table.

•If you select an entire column before bringing up this dialog, the dialog will default to creating a series with 500,000 values. This can take a while. Adjust the value a reasonable number.

 

Turn the X column into a series

 

This option is a carryover from prior versions of Prism, and we suggest you use the Insert Series command instead.

To turn the X column into a series:

1.Create a new XY table.

2.Enter at least one Y value or column titles so the table is not completely empty.

3.Click the Table Format button at the upper left of the table, or drop Change and choose Format Data Table.

4.Choose to generate X values, and enter the starting value and increment.

Notes:

•On older versions of Prism, you were able to define this series at the time you created the table. With Prism 6, you can no longer do this. You must first create the table, and then use Format Data Table to define the series.

•When you define the X axis to be a series, Prism will delete any X value you had entered into the X column without asking for confirmation.

•With this method, the entire X column becomes a nearly infinite series. You cannot tell Prism where to stop the series.

•With this method, the series is always arithmetic -- each value is computed by adding a constant increment to the prior one. Use the Insert Series dialog to create a geometrical series — each value is computed by multiplying a constant factor times the prior one.