# Simple excel question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668 "2005-07-15T16:29:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/1 "2005-07-15T16:29:47Z")

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Does anyone know how to draw a line of best fit on a chart in excel? I have my data currently represented as a chart that uses a smooth curve to join each datapoint, rather than fitting a single curve through the series. I don’t know what I’m doing with excel, and can’t see where you can get hold of some kind of fitting function. 😕

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**Author:** ![dlack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlack)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/2 "2005-07-15T16:40:02Z")

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> [@Myler Keogh](#):
>
> Does anyone know how to draw a line of best fit on a chart in excel? I have my data currently represented as a chart that uses a smooth curve to join each datapoint, rather than fitting a single curve through the series. I don’t know what I’m doing with excel, and can’t see where you can get hold of some kind of fitting function. 😕

Right click on a data point in your plot and click Add Trendline. Choose whether you want linear or quadratic or whatever. You can display the equation through the Options tab.

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**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/3 "2005-07-15T16:41:12Z")

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right click on the chart, choose chart type, go to custom types and choose smooth lines

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**Author:** ![dlack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlack)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/4 "2005-07-15T16:41:14Z")

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This can also be accessed by going to the “Chart” menu.

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**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/5 "2005-07-15T16:44:19Z")

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oh i think i may have misread the OP. :smack:

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**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-excel-question/312668/6 "2005-07-15T17:05:41Z")

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> [@dlack](#):
>
> Right click on a data point in your plot and click Add Trendline. Choose whether you want linear or quadratic or whatever. You can display the equation through the Options tab.

Many thanks for the quick response **dlack**. The trendline command does the trick 🙂