📊 Day 20: Area Chart in Python

 

📊 Day 20: Area Chart in Python

🔹 What is an Area Chart?

An Area Chart is similar to a line chart, but the area below the line is filled.
It emphasizes the magnitude and accumulation of values over time.

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🔹 When Should You Use It?

Use an area chart when:

• Showing trends over time

• Emphasizing total volume

• Comparing growth patterns

• Visualizing cumulative data

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🔹 Example Scenario

Suppose you are analyzing:

• Website traffic over months

• Revenue growth over years

• Energy consumption trends

An area chart helps you see:

• Overall growth or decline

• Rate of change

• Contribution over time

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🔹 Key Idea Behind It

👉 X-axis usually represents time
👉 Y-axis shows values
👉 Filled area highlights magnitude

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🔹 Python Code (Area Chart)

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

months = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun']
 sales = [120, 150, 180, 160, 200, 240]

plt.plot(months, sales)
plt.fill_between(months, sales, alpha=0.4)

plt.xlabel("Months") 
plt.ylabel("Sales")
plt.title("Area Chart Example") 

plt.show()

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🔹 Output Explanation

• The line shows the trend

• The shaded area emphasizes total sales

• Easy to spot growth over time

• Makes trends more visually impactful

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🔹 Area Chart vs Line Chart

Feature	Area Chart	Line Chart
Visual emphasis	High	Medium
Data clarity	Good	Excellent
Best for	Volume & trends	Trends only
Overlap risk	Yes	No

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🔹 Key Takeaways

• Area charts highlight magnitude over time

• Best used for cumulative data

• Avoid too many overlapping areas

• Works best with time-series data