# Why graph like this this? WASHPO **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663 "2020-05-12T19:08:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/1 "2020-05-12T19:08:53Z")
> **[File:20200401 Trump coronavirus quote timelines - Washington Post.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20200401_Trump_coronavirus_quote_timelines_-_Washington_Post.svg)** > > Original file ‎(SVG file, nominally 1,648 × 927 pixels, file size: 374 KB) > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. The following 2 pages use this file: Why would someone lay out a graph in this manner? (Time on y axis with most recent at bottom and numbers on x axis increasing to the right) Its just…wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/2 "2020-05-12T19:21:49Z")
I would assume it was so they could put the words horizontally rather than have to put them vertically. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/3 "2020-05-12T19:32:04Z")
It’s so that you can read the quotes in order from top to bottom. You want the largest number and the latest date to be on the bottom right, and this arrangement is the most efficient way to make that work. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/4 "2020-05-12T19:36:41Z")
I would at least flip the timeline (Y-axis). It maintains readability and allows for additional trumpian inanities. Sky’s the limit. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/5 "2020-05-13T14:12:19Z")
O.K. - I guess I’ve never seen a graph where a line that moves downward indicates an increasing number over time - e…g. stock market, every other Covid graph that I’ve seen. To add new data you have to move the whole graph, not merely add to it. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/6 "2020-05-13T18:48:33Z")
Focus on the sentences, not the graph. As **Tim R. Mortiss** and **SpoilerVirgin** say, we’re used to reading horizontally, and from top to bottom. One wants the chronology to read from the past toward the present. The design is clever. If you’re right that organizing a graph like that is unusual, then call the design _very_ clever. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/7 "2020-05-14T11:47:38Z")
O.K. Maybe I’m beating a dead horse and I’m definitely slow but what is so clever about it unless the point is to mis-lead? If you were to look at the that graph, (call it “cases over time”) and the axises weren’t named, you’d probably believe that there has been a huge drop in numbers. Focus on the sentences? Why? The whole point of a graph is to give you a visual representation of the data in an easy to understand manner. I’ve seen other, more traditional, graphs with Trumps lies and misleading statements and IMHO, they are much more effective at making the point. Which IS the point. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/8 "2020-05-14T14:07:08Z")
In english we read left to right and top to bottom. You are focusing on numbers when the chart is clearly laid out for reading. Think of it as a consise graphic of what was going on in the country when Trump said each thing. If the numbers were laid out more traditionally for their ease of reading you would either have the words in a harder orientation or you would read from the bottom up neither of which is ideal. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-graph-like-this-this-washpo/853663/9 "2020-05-15T12:57:29Z")
I think it’s clever, but that it does lose a bit of impact by having a graph in an unusual format. They’d be better of just overlaying the quotes on a faded out graph, with faded out connectors behind the text. Makes the graph less prominent, but the graph as is isn’t a good element anyway.