Drinking Fountain in Florida A&M University School of Architecture Building
Drinking Fountain		Student: John Collins

Alternative Comparison of Water Use versus Compressor Operation

This graph compares water flows from the high fountain versus condenser fin temperature on the same fountain (as a surrogate for compressor operation) during a continuous 2-hour period. The purpose of the graph was to explore alternative ways of comparing water flow and compressor operation events (for which temperature is just a stand-in). The Quattro logical "if" function was used to set a variable equal to +10 when the spigot temperature was lower than 60 degrees F, and to set another variable equal to -10 when condenser fin temperature was greater than 81 degrees F. In essence, this turns the temperature data into status data (on or off) when plotted. A 2-hour period was selected to allow the data to be spaced horizontally. There were 75 measurements recorded during this time period (or 75 possible bars on the graph).

Question: Is this an improvement (in terms of clarity of on-off status information) over the line graph?

Comment: Try to avoid shifting orientations of variables on related graphs as occurs between this and the line graph.

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Last updated 18 April 2001
http://www99.pair.com/vsfamu/thing/drnk/compbar.htm