What is a Line Graph in Data Visualization?

Line Graphs are used to display quantitative values over a continuous interval or time period. A Line Graph is most frequently used to show trends and analyse how the data has changed over time.

Line Graphs are drawn by first plotting data points on a Cartesian coordinate grid, then connecting a line between all of these points. Typically, the y-axis has a quantitative value, while the x-axis is a timescale or a sequence of intervals. Negative values can be displayed below the x-axis.

The direction of the lines on the graph works as a nice metaphor for the data: an upward slope indicates where values have increased and a downward slope indicates where values have decreased. The line’s journey across the graph can create patterns that reveal trends in a dataset.

When grouped with other lines, individual lines can be compared to one another. However, avoid using more than 3-4 lines per graph, as this makes the chart more cluttered and harder to read. A solution to this is to divide the chart into smaller multiples.