Often you may want to plot an equation or a function in Google Sheets.
Fortunately this is easy to do with built-in formulas.
This tutorial provides several examples of how to plot equations/functions in Google Sheets.
Example 1: Plot a Linear Equation
Suppose you’d like to plot the following equation:
y = 2x + 5
The following image shows how to create the y-values for this linear equation in Google Sheets, using the range of 1 to 10 for the x-values:
Next, highlight the values in the range A2:B11. Then click on the Insert tab. Then click Chart:
The following plot will automatically appear:
We can see that the plot follows a straight line since the equation that we used was linear.
Example 2: Plot a Quadratic Equation
Suppose you’d like to plot the following equation:
y = 3x2
The following image shows how to create the y-values for this equation in Google Sheets, using the range of 1 to 10 for the x-values:
Next, highlight the values in the range A2:B11. Then click on the Insert tab. Then click Chart.
The following plot will automatically appear:
We can see that the plot follows a curved line since the equation that we used was quadratic.
Example 3: Plot a Reciprocal Equation
Suppose you’d like to plot the following equation:
y = 1/x
The following image shows how to create the y-values for this equation in Google Sheets, using the range of 1 to 10 for the x-values:
Next, highlight the values in the range A2:B11. Then click on the Insert tab. Then click Chart.
The following plot will automatically appear:
We can see that the plot follows a curved line downwards since this represents the equation y = 1/x.
Example 4: Plot a Sine Equation
Suppose you’d like to plot the following equation:
y = sin(x)
The following image shows how to create the y-values for this equation in Google Sheets, using the range of 1 to 10 for the x-values:
Next, highlight the values in the range A2:B11. Then click on the Insert tab. Then click Chart.
The following plot will automatically appear:
You can use a similar technique to plot any function or equation in Google Sheets.
Simply choose a range of x-values to use in one column, then use an equation in a separate column to define the y-values based on the x-values.