Good Biology graphing programs?

[Cmunro]

I really don't like Excel for graphing for several reasons. The main issue is that it only has uniform uncertainties for all data points and you cannot put different uncertainties for different data points. I also just don't feel the graph looks good quality at all.

People I have asked suggest either doing it by hand or doing it on photoshop or illustrator. Both of these take time though. Surely someone has come up with a nice, easy system?

I'm going into my last year of high school, so I'm not really aware of what graphing packages are available. What do the biologists of this forum use?

 

[Monique]

Prism is really good statistical software.

 

[Cmunro]

Thanks! I'll have a look.

 

[Cmunro]

Well I downloaded the free trial, and its great - but there's one catch. $300 if I actually wanted to use it for more than 30 days. Something to consider perhaps later on when I'm doing biology in uni :) Still, I'll do what I can with it for 30 days.

Do you know of any cheaper alternatives?

 

[chroot]

gnuplot. It has a pretty steep learning curve, unfortunately. The web is littered with tutorials, though.

- Warren

 

[pawelsobko]

Software packages

R - for statistical analysis and graphing, very large, but maybe somewhat difficult. http://www.r-project.org/

Gnuplot - already mentioned. Graph oriented, with some computational capacities http://www.gnuplot.info/

GLE - graphics layout engine, allows much more than graphs http://glx.sourceforge.net/

All are free (really free!)