Playing with graphs

[andrewducker]

I took the data from the Game Of Thrones poll and turned it into a chart.



The Google Chart API/Wizard is pretty neat - you can generate charts by hand using the API here, or using the wizard here.

Sadly they only support having three circles, otherwise I'd have broken down the overlapping section into which one people preferred (of the 13 people that had read the book and seen the series it split 2:1 in favour of the book).

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

I don't think you can draw the four circles version in standard geometries (and given you're working with paper or a display screen you only have a standard flat plane to work with). You can't get all areas of possible overlap.

If you consider the obvious "four corners of a square" layout

A B

C D

You can't illustrate on that an area where A and D overlap but not also B and C. No matter how you juggle your circles you will never be able to include all the possible intersections.

[andrewducker]

Oh, yes - you'd need more dimensions in some circumstances. Easier to not allow it at all for a simple generator.

What I _really_ wanted in this case was the ability to specify a box around the whole thing (for "all respondents") and to then subdivide the circles/intersections arbitrarily.

But at that point I'm probably better off going off and drawing it myself.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

That's the thing you can't do with circles: three circles that make eight areas (including a fourth, encompassing circle representing the outside), all eight areas to be of freely-variable size. I think you can't do it with ellipses either, they would have to be pear shapes at least.

You can do arbitrary values with four variables, represented by two circles, their intersection, and an outside circle, which is the capability Google give you here.