Common Question 4

What is the difference between the Graph and Scientific Graph?

The Graph and Scientific Graph are very similar.  The major difference is the Graph object requires only YData while the Scientific Graph requires both YData and XData. The Graph object is designed to show a series of equally spaced y values and thus can display a table (GraphPlusTable) below the graph. The Scientific Graph is designed to display data that has both x and y components and if needed, data value labels can be placed next to data points (AllowDataLabels).

Because the Graph object does not have XData, it places point labels below the x axis (PointLabels). Whereas the Scientific Graph creates an automatic numeric x axis much like both objects do for the y axis. Because the Graph object does not need to process XData, it can produce images and horizontally scroll quicker than the Scientific Graph.

Both Graph and Scientific Graph objects share the same annotation features and can produce charts with multiple y axes and overlapping y axes.

Within the demo and demo projects compare example 000 with example 100.