Nathan Yau believes that the value scale on a bar chart should always begin at zero, and he offers a few examples — one tracking his fluctuating weight, another comparing his height to his son's. Problems arise, Yau writes, because the human brain uses the scale as context for reading the bar; shortening the bar confuses everything: "It's true that every rule has its exception. It's just that with this particular rule, I haven't seen a worthwhile reason to bend it yet."
September 8, 2015
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