Looking for good example data for a broken axis graph

Question

I occasionally get asked about making broken axes in Graph Builder. It's not something I like to do since it requires more conscious thinking to process, but I realize sometimes options are constrained. There's a way to get the effect in Graph Builder and I'm planning to write a blog post about it. Below is my contrived data with a whole axis and a "broken" axis. Does anyone have examples of real data sets that are suitable for a broken axis?

XanGregg · Answer

Thanks! Good to see a real example with a nice explanation.

mrb3434 · Answer

Hi xan@jmp,

I was recently searching this topic because I found an example of a "broken-axis" graph and wanted to recreate it without using Microsoft Office products.  The paper located at the following link contains a graphical abstract showing IR spectra for modeled and experimental vibration energy for essential oils found in nutmeg (e.g. eugenol).  In this case, the authors were attempting to point out different areas of the IR spectrum where certain important peaks were located.  These data are usually recorded from 4000 - 20 cm-1 and are plotted with either % transmittance or absorbance on the y-axis.  Here, I suppose two graphs would work, but it creates a sense of discontinuity in a continuous spectrum.  Generally people use a broken x-axis graph that essentially skips areas of the full IR spectrum where there is no significant absorbance or change in %T.  I think this is a similar example to what you've found in your blog post.  Thought you'd be interested.

I have been using a combination of Excel and Powerpoint to create my custom graphs.  Usually works well, but is time consuming.

Here is the link http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.5b07607

~m

XanGregg · Answer

I ended up using this contrived data plus an example I found in a journal in my blog post. I'm still interested in examples or discussion on axis breaks in general.