Radar graphs

Radar graphs

Radar graphs, also known as spider or web charts, are designed to plot 1 or more series of values over multiple quantitative categories by providing an axis for each category, arranged radially as equi-angular spokes around a central point. Values increase from the centre outwards, and each axis can have its own quantitative measure. The values for each category are plotted as points. Often, all the category values in a single series are connected by lines, forming an irregular polygon:

Radar graph showing average monthly maximum and minimum temperatures

These graphs are unfamiliar to most readers and make it difficult to compare parts of the data. Readers may infer correlations or make comparisons across adjacent categories that are invalid.

Instead, plot the data as bar graphs with clustered columns, or a trellis graph for multiple data series.

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