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graph, diagram or chart

graph, diagram or chart

graph, diagram or chart

(OP)

When should a pictorial plot on a plane depicting the interdependence of variables be called a graph, a diagram or a chart ?

RE: graph, diagram or chart

A function graph is the term used in mathematics, but graph, chart and plot are used interchangeably for this item.  You can read more at Mathworld:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FunctionGraph.html

A diagram is a more generic word that is, according to Merriam-Webster, "a graphic design that explains rather than represents":

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=diagram

Regards,

Cory

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RE: graph, diagram or chart

I avoid the whole "refer to Fig. 1"

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
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RE: graph, diagram or chart

Definitions of this kind of terms (applies to the relief/safety valve discussion too) given in inches-think handbooks may _sound_ like they are the absolute truth, but they've just been written down by engineers probably not considerably more intelligent than we are, who thought they knew what they were writing at the time. There is no such absolute concept CHART like there is such thing as PI=3.141...

My diagram may be somebody else's chart with some graph added to it, and I might as well change it to a plot tomorrow when it gets too boring!

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