6.10.1 Box Plot

Summary

This tutorial demonstrates how to create the following box plot with the data points and distribution curves both.

Tutorial Box Plot 001.png

Minimum Origin Version Required: Origin 2015 SR0

What you will learn

This tutorial will show you how to:

  • Create a data overlapped box plot
  • Customize box plot settings
  • Change the layer background

Steps

This tutorial is associated with :<Origin EXE Folder>\Samples\Tutorial Data.opj.

  1. Open Tutorial Data.opj and browse to the Box Plot folder in Project Explorer (PE).
  2. Activate the first worksheet, select the January(Y), February(Y), and March(Y) columns and plot them as a Box Chart using Plot > Statistical: Box Chart.
  3. Click on the plot, and the Mini Toolbar pops-up. Click on Box Type button and select Box[Right] + Data[Left] in the list.
    Tutorial Box Plot New 01-1.png
  4. Click on the Border Color button in the Mini Toolbar and select Blue.
    Tutorial Box Plot New 01-2.png
  5. Click on the Fill Color and create a custom color as below:
    Tutorial Box Plot New 01-3.png
  6. Double-click on one of the box charts to bring up the Plot Details dialog. The Data tab shows up because data plot is also included in the plot. In this tab, change the settings as shown below to change the binning options.
    Tutorial Box Plot New 02.png
  7. Then, go to the Distribution tab to create a normal distribution curve.
    Tutorial Box Plot New 02a.png
  8. The next step is to customize the data symbols in the Symbol tab:
    Tutorial Box Plot New 05.png
  9. The style of the Percentile points is also changed in the Percentile tab:
    Tutorial Box Plot New 05b.png
  10. The next step is to change the background color. In the same Plot Details dialog, select Layer 1 in the left panel to activate the tabs of layer level. If the left panel is not expanded use the Plot Details Expansion.png button on the bottom left of the dialog to expand it. In the Background tab, expand the Color option, click the vacant color under the Custom controls to open the Colors dialog. In the Custom tab of this dialog box, enter the Red, Green and Blue values to define your favorite color. Here, let us make the color(R:177, G:237, B:254). Click OK to accept the setting and close the dialog.
  11. Click on the Y Axis, and click on the Axis Scale button in the Mini Toolbar to open the dialog. In the Axis Scale - Y dialog, set the following axis scale specifications:
    Tutorial Box Plot New 06.png
  12. Double click on the Title of Left Axis, and edit the title to Discharge [ft\+(3)/sec]:
    Tutorial Box Plot New 06b.png
  13. Click on the Y Axis, and click on the Axis dialog button in the Mini Toolbar, then select Grid Lines.... In the dialog, enable the Major Grid Lines and set their styles as below, and click OK.
    Tutorial Box Plot New 07a.png
  14. Double-click on the X Axis to open a Axes dialog box. On the Title tab, check the Show check box, and change the X axis title to Month
    Tutorial Box Plot New 06c.png
  15. Go to Scale tab, and select Vertical, under Minor Ticks section set Count =0. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.
  16. Select View: Show: Frame menu to add the frame to this graph.
  17. The legend can be deleted if desired by selecting it and pressing the delete key.
  18. Right-click the layer and select Add/Modify Layer Title from the menu that appears. Enter the text Water Discharge at Station 120011 in the edit box. Existing layer titles and axes titles can be modified by double clicking on them till the text cursor appears.