Typically, a linear trendline describes a continuous rise or fall over time.įor example, the following linear trendline shows a steady increase in sales over 6 months.
The linear trend line is best to be used with linear data sets when the data points in a chart resemble a straight line. R-squared value measures the trendline reliability - the nearer R 2 is to 1, the better the trendline fits the data.īelow, you will find a brief description of each trendline type with chart examples.Trendline equation is a formula that finds a line that best fits the data points.Additionally, Microsoft Excel allows displaying a trendline equation and R-squared value in a chart:
When adding a trendline in Excel, you have 6 different options to choose from.
