Introduction

How to Use this Document

This document introduces prospective users to SigmaPlot for Windows, which

currently runs under Windows XP/Vista/7. Those who do not own a personal

copy of SigmaPlot for Windows may access the software from various UITS

Student Technology Centers at IU. Vendor-supplied documents are available for

reference at the Swain Hall, Business/SPEA and Education Libraries' Reserve

Collections, IUPUI University Library, and at UITS Research Analytics (formerly

the Stat/Math Center). Faculty members who are interested in arranging

introductory workshops for their classes in using SigmaPlot for Windows may

contact the UITS IT Training & Education Program. Contact Research Analytics,

if you are a faculty or a staff, and interested in leasing SigmaPlot for Windows at

an educational discount.

What is SigmaPlot?

SigmaPlot for Windows is a technical graphing program designed for the

Windows Platform. It can be used effectively to produce all types of graphs and

charts, including a nonlinear curve fitter, worksheets that accommodate large

data sets and summary statistics. It has what it calls a mathematical transform

language that allows you to manipulate and analyze data.

SigmaPlot enables you to create graphs quickly. It has easy-to-read icons on the

Graph Toolbar and the interactive Graph Wizard, which prompts you for every

step of graph creation. You’ll be able to customize the graph detail by double-

clicking on any graph element and the Graph Properties dialog box shows you

how to specify different colors, sizes and symbols, and much more. SigmaPlot

graphs can be copied and pasted to any open page, report, or into any other

Windows application that supports pictures (e.g. Word, PowerPoint). SigmaPlot

also seamlessly merges with Excel. You can use the power of Excel inside

SigmaPlot, and SigmaPlot offers instant access from Excel.

Hardware and Software Requirements

The minimum hardware and software requirements for SigmaPlot for Windows

are:

• Windows XP, Vista, 7

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Processor

• 1 GB of System Memory

• 100 MB of Available Hard Disk Space

• CD-ROM Drive

• 800x600 SVGA/256 Color Display or better

• Internet Explorer Version 6 or better

Orientation

The Interface

There are four types of windows in SigmaPlot

SigmaPlot Notebook Window:

The SigmaPlot Windows displays a list of data and graphs. While you

work on SigmaPlot, you create a file called gSigmaPlot notebook

fileh. The file contains all your SigmaPlot data and graphs. The

notebook displays what work has been done in a particular project.

Worksheet Window:

The Worksheet Window looks like a spread-sheet data editor. Graphs are

made out of data in the Window. You can directly enter data from the

keyboard or import data into this window.

Graph Page Window:

The Graph Page Window displays graphs and allows you to modify

graphs made from your worksheet data.

Column Statistics Window:

The Column Statistics Window displays descriptive statistics from the

current selected worksheet.

Menus in SigmaPlot

The top strip of SigmaPlot Window contains menus of things you can do. The

menu shown above lets you create graphs from your worksheet data.

Toolbars in SigmaPlot

Toolbars have commonly used command buttons. (e.g., creating / opening a new

notebook, saving and printing)

2 dimensional graph toolbar

3 dimensional graph toolbar

Drawing toolbar

Options in SigmaPlot

You can personalize your SigmaPlot session by altering the default Options

settings.

• Select Tools/Options

• Click the tabs for the setting you want to change.

• Change the settings.

• Click OK or Apply button

Getting Started

Suppose you have three test scores collected from a class of ten students (5

females, and 5 males) during a semester. The information you have for each

student is: identification number, gender, score for test one, test two and test

three (the full data set is displayed toward the end of this section for you to enter

into the Worksheet window).

Name

Gender

Test1

Test2

Test3

Tim

Helen

SigmaPlot needs data in the worksheet (looks like a spreadsheet) to generate

graphs. There are two ways to enter data: entering data directly or importing

external data (e.g. Excel data) into a worksheet.

Entering Data

Let us open a Worksheet and enter the variable names and the data above.

1.Select New from the File menu. A new dialog box appears. Click Ok in the

box.

2.Double-click on the top of the 1st column.

3.Type Name for the variable name. The name of the column shows 1-Name.

Define the remaining five variables as the same way.

Now, the top row should have six variable names. Let us key in the data.

4.Move the pointer to the cell below the variable Name, by clicking it.

5.Type in the data given above, pressing ENTER after each value. To move

down columns, press the down arrow. To move right columns, press TAB.

Once you finish entering the data your Worksheet will appear as shown

below.

Importing External Data

Suppose we have an Excel file (e.g. Clas.xls). We are going to import the

data into SigmaPlot.

1. Open the worksheet and Select Import from the File menu.

2.An Import File dialog box appears. Click Import in the box.

3. An Import Spreadsheet dialog box appears. This box asks you the name of

sheet from the Excel file and the range of the data. We are going to import the

entire data from Sheet1.

4.Click Import.

5.The imported data looks as below:

Generating Graphs

After the data has been entered into the worksheet, Graphs can be conducted

using this data. There are two ways of creating a graph:

• Using the Graph Wizard.

• Clicking an icon on the toolbar.

In the following examples we are going to use the Graph Wizard to generate bar

charts, error bars, 2D line plot and 3D scatter plot.

Bar Charts

1.Shown below is the Clas.xls data imported into SigmaPlot.

2.To open the Graph Wizard, select Create Graph from Graph menu or

press F3 key. The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify a graph type.

Choose Vertical Bar Chart from the scroll down list. Then click Next.

3.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify a graph style. Choose Simple

Bar from the scroll down list. Then click Next.

4.The Graph Wizard prompts you to select a data format. Choose XY Pair from

the scroll down list. Then click Next.

5.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify the columns of the data you want to

graph. Click the column ID in the worksheet to assign it to the X and Mathscor to

Bar. Then click Finish.

6.The bar chart generated looks like the one shown below:

Error Bars

1.To open the Graph Wizard, select Create Graph from Graph menu or

press F3 key. The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify a graph type.

Choose Scatter Plot from the list of Graph Types and click Next.

2.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify a graph style. Choose Simple Error

Bars from the list of Graph Styles and click Next.

3.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify Symbol value and Error calculation

(upper, lower). Choose Column Means from the scroll down list as the symbol

value. Choose Standard Deviationfor both of upper and lower Error calculation.

Then click Next.

4.The Graph Wizard prompts you to select a data format. Choose Many Y and

then click Next.

5.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify the columns of the data you want to

graph. Click the column Mathscor in the worksheet to assign it to Y1, Compscor

to Y2, canx to Y3, C5 to Y4 and M5 to Y5. Then click Finish.

6.The error bar generated looks like the one shown below:

2D Line Plot

1.To open the Graph Wizard, select Create Graph from Graph menu or

press F3 key. Select Line Plot, and then click Next.

2.Select Simple Straight Line, and then click Next.

3.Select XY Pair, and then click Next.

4.Select ID on the worksheet for X, and canx for Y, then click Finish.

5.A generated 2D line plot looks like the one shown below:

3D Scatter Plot

1.To open the Graph Wizard, select Create Graph from Graph menu or press

F3 key. The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify a graph type. Choose 3D

Scatter Plot from the list of Graph Types and click Next.

2.The Graph Wizard prompts you to select a data format. Choose XYZ

Triplet and then click Next.

3.The Graph Wizard prompts you to specify the columns of the data you want to

graph. Click the column Mathscor in the worksheet to assign it to X, Compscor to

Y and canx to Z. Then click Finish.

4.A generated 3D scatter plot looks like the one shown below:

Editing Graphs

From the Clas.xls data imported into SigmaPlot, (1) Select Create

Graph from Graph menu and select Scatter Plot then click Next. (2)

Select Simple Scatter then click Next. (3) Select XY Pairthen click Next. (4)

Select ID on the worksheet for X, and Mathscor for Y, then click Finish.

A 2D scatter plot generated is shown below:

Adding a Line Plot

1.Select Graph Properties from Graph menu.

2.The Graph Properties window opens. Click the Plots tab. From the scroll down

list, choose Plot1. Click Lines from the Settings for scroll down list.

Choose Solid from the Type scroll down list. Click OK.

3.A line is added into the graph like the one shown below:

Adding a Title, Legend and Axis Titles

Most graph modifications are made using the Graph Properties dialog box. To

add a Title, Legend and Axis Titles:

1.Select Graph Properties from Graph menu.

2.The Graph Properties window opens. Click the Graph tab and then

select Plots from the Settings for scroll down list.

3.Change the Title of the graph by clicking on the Rename button and typing in

Math Score. Click OK in the Edit Text window.

4.Click Legends from the Settings for list. Click Edit to change the legend text

to Mathscore for Students. Click on Apply to apply the changes.

5.To change the axis titles, click the Axes tab. Select X data from Axis scroll

down list, then click Rename. Type the axis title ID, click OK. Rename Y data

Mathscore as a new title for Y-axis.

6.The graph looks like the one shown below:

Adding / Changing Colors

Suppose you want to change the line and the symbol colors.

1.Select Graph Properties from Graph menu.

2.The Graph Properties window opens. Click the Plots tab and then

select Lines from the Settings for list. Choose Red from Line color scroll down

list. Click Apply.

3.Click Symbols from the Settings for list and choose the Green color from Fill

color scroll down list. Click Apply.

4.The graph looks like the one shown below:

Saving the Graphs

To save SigmaPlot file containing both the graph and the worksheet:

1.Select Save As from File menu.

2.The Save as dialog box appears. Navigate to the directory where you want to

save your notebook (e.g. C:/temp).

3.Enter a File name for the SigmaPlot Notebook, e.g. exercise1.JNB

4.Click Save.

Exporting Graphs

You can export your SigmaPlot graphs (.jnb) into another format (e.g., .jpg). To

export your graphs into another format:

1. Click on the Graph Page window and then select Export from File menu.

2. Export File dialog box open, navigate to where you want to export your file,

e.g. C:/temp

3. Select the file type JPEG (*.jpg) from Save as type scroll down list.

4. Enter a file name. exercise1.jpg , then click Export.

5. Export JPEG File dialog box shows up, you can edit the size of the graph, and

then click OK

6. The file is saved as .jpg format file and it looks like:

Publishing Graphs on the Web

To display your graphs on the web, you need to generate html web format or jpg

graphic format files.

1. Click on the Graph Page window and then select Export from File menu.

2. Export File dialog box open, navigate to where you want to export your file,

e.g. C:/temp

3. Select the file type HTML (JPEG only, *.htm) from Save as type scroll down

list.

4. Enter a file name. Exercise2.htm, then click Export.

5. Export Web Graph dialog box opens, you can edit the size of the graph, and

then click OK.

6. The file is saved as .htm format file and it looks like:

Publishing Power Point Presentation

SigmaPlot allows you to move your graphs to your PowerPoint slides by just

dragging and dropping the graphs. Within your slides, you can change text and

graph color.

1. Suppose you have a PowerPoint slide as follows:

2. The graph (*1) which you want to export from SigmaPlot looks like this:

(*1) The graph above is from the previous section, Editing Graphs.

3. Point and click the graph, and drag and drop it on the PowerPoint

4. Within the PowerPoint slide, you can edit the graph just like other image files:

Getting Help and Further Reading

When you select Help on the top menu and then select Contents and Index,

you will see that SigmaPlot uses the standard Windows help system. There are

three tabs and only one may be selected at any one time. These are:

Contents: This opens a table of contents where you can browse various topics.

Index: This allows you to see a list of index entries. You can either type a subject

or scroll through the list.

Search: This allows you to search a particular topic or the entire Help file for a

particular word or phrase.

The material covered in this document illustrates some of the basic features of

SigmaPlot for Windows. Examining additional features of SigmaPlot for Windows

is beyond the scope of this document. For further help, refer to SigmaPlot for

Windows documents. If you need assistance in using SigmaPlot for Windows

contact the UITS Stat/Math Center.

The basic documents for SigmaPlot for Windows are:

• User's Guide

• Programming Guide

SigmaPlot PDF documents are also available online. Hardcopy documents may

be purchased through any local bookstore, or directly ordered from Systat

Software, Inc. Those who wish to contact Systat Software, Inc. directly for

general information on SigmaPlot may call (800) 797-7401 or email

[email protected].