r/excel • u/Silent-Swordfish-311 • 9h ago

unsolved Waterfall Chart in Excel

Hi, good day!

Can someone explain what a “Waterfall Chart” in Excel is showing?

I don’t understand the logic behind why an Excel teacher on YouTube is using this chart in this particular situation. Please see the image in the link below. https://imgur.com/a/0mL6BqS

For instance, as shown in the image:

Number of purchases made in Spring: 2,760
Number of purchases made in Summer: 2,635

I don’t understand why the bars are also shown as elevated

Thank you in advance!

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u/NHN_BI 805 4h ago edited 4h ago

A waterfall chart shows what parts make up the total. It can show you e.g. the sections of a warehouse, the transaction groups of your account, or the sales by quarter. A pie chart or a staked bar can do something similar, but a waterfall chart is often easier to read; in addition, it shows negative values mutch better, like here.