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JoHeWe t1_izg4qb3 wrote

Reply to comment by IONIXU22 in [OC] How to spot misleading charts? I would like to hear your opinion on the subject, also any tips design-wise? by dark_o3

There are instances where starting the Y-axis not at zero is okay. I'm bad at examples, but zero is used as a baseline. Which means that it would be better to start the Y-axis at another value, it being similar to the baseline.

An example might be the concentration of something, like CO2 molecules in the atmosphere. It is impossible and irrelevant to get to 0. Besides, it's not about the absolute values but the relative values.

But in general, yeah, it is misleading.

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Korwinga t1_izh32ez wrote

Temperature is another one. Unless you're doing experiments at absolute zero, 0 degrees K shouldn't be on your graph.

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marsman t1_izizcu7 wrote

It's often true if you want to show the differences between similarly (usually large..) numbers. Whether it is misleading or not tends to be in the presentato and context. The same applies to things like log scales etc...

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Elocai t1_izjzzcj wrote

The moment you compare those temperature, either in graph or in percent, you need to switch to K first.

10°C is not half as cold as 20°C

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_str00pwafel t1_izjl62a wrote

For my data presentation it's usually only okay to start above 0 when doing so would make it hard or impossible to see necessary details in the plot.

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