What does "Mean" in the title of a line graph mean?

Question

I am trying to draw a line graph with "Step" option. I expect JMP to link points using flat horizontal lines till the next point where there should be a step up or down depending on the point location. But JMP uses some sort of "Mean" while plotting a Step graph. Could you please explain this to me?

Craige_Hales · Answer

And you should probably change the title; something like "Motor Speed" will be better than "Mean of RPM" since the Y axis will already be named RPM.

Change the title of a graph by clicking on it

cwillden · Answer

Hi @SujanaC,

It computes the mean for each distinct value of variable in the X drop zone and connects the steps to those means.  This is only relevant if you have multiple points with the same values of the variable in the X drop zone.  You can change the summary statistic that is plotted in the control panel where you change the line connections to Step.  By default, it is set to "Mean."

For more info, see the "Essential Graphing" book in Help > Books.  In JMP 13, the details on the Line element are on page 61.

Hope that helps!