the slope chart

Two moments joined by a line. Which things went up, which went down, and by how much.

What it leaves outOnly the two ends exist. Everything that happened between them -- a spike, a collapse, a recovery -- is drawn as a straight line.

2 · intermediate · rung 3 · what’s related

this platform's own · shipped on the platform · MechSlope · control 09

Three worked examples

Who went up and who went down?

Before you lookWrite down which borough you think changed most between the two measures.

civictwo_instruments_nyc_rats.csv · 5 rows · 5 columns

complaints and inspections as two moments, borough by borough

What to look atWhich boroughs went up, which went down, and by how much. The crossing lines are the story.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/two_instruments_nyc_rats.csv.

earth and spacewindow_15_year_trends.csv · 132 rows · 2 columns

the same 15-year warming trends, first window against last, by decade

What to look atTwo moments joined per decade. Steepness is the size of the change, and the decades whose lines cross are the ones that behaved differently from their neighbours.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/window_15_year_trends.csv.

teen healthnhis_teen_by_sex.csv · 10 rows · 3 columns

the same ten measures, girls on the left and boys on the right

What to look atWhich measures cross, and which run parallel. A crossing means the two groups RANK that measure differently, not just answer it differently.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/nhis_teen_by_sex.csv.

the pool

Now build one yourself.

The pool opens with this file and this shape already drawn, so your first move is to change something rather than to start from nothing. Bring your own CSV if you have one. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — the chart is drawn in your browser, your work saves there, and it downloads as a picture or as a project file you can open again.

Open the pool → the slope chart · two_instruments_nyc_rats.csv