Diagrams and Data Graphs

Abstract

More information is available to more people than ever before. Businessmen are being overwhelmed by massive documents that contain reams of statistics on every subject from capital expenditure to market research. Worst of all, computers are pouring out printouts of dreary data that cover every topic from Astrology to Zoology. Obviously something must be done! Computers have helped to create the problem and they can also help to solve it. The data must be presented in a more digestible manner: as pie-charts, histograms, scientific graphs or just plain diagrams. With the advent of desktop computers the increasing sales of programs that produce these displays have made this one of the major growth areas in computer graphics. In this chapter we shall see how such diagrams can be constructed with ease, given just a few tools to aid our draughtsmanship.