Scatter chart with multiple data series

Question

I want to create a scatter chart with Google Spreadsheets, which turns out to be very difficult. Based on a similar question here I came up with this approach:

What I want to achieve is sketched here:

Any idea how I can get Google Spreadsheets to do that?

Answer 1

You don't need any tricks to do this: just use the data in the natural way

+---+------------+---------+---------+
|   |     A      |    B    |    C    |
+---+------------+---------+---------+
| 1 | difficulty | samples | results |
| 2 | 0          | 1       | 3       |
| 3 | 1          | 1       | 3       |
| 4 | 2          | 1       | 3       |
| 5 | 3          | 1       | 3       |
| 6 | 4          | 1       | 3       |
| 7 | 5          | 1       | 3       |
+---+------------+---------+---------+

Select the range A1:C7, go to Insert > Chart, switch to "Chart types" tab and pick Scatter. Here's what I get:

(If the data is arranged as you have it, with separate rows for separate series, it still works the same).

A potential pitfall: if on the "Recommendations" tab (shown by default) you click a scatter-looking plot "samples vs. difficulty", this will yield the bad chart in your post. Just ignore the "Recommendations" tab.