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time series chart

By TechTarget Contributor

A time series chart, also called a times series graph or time series plot, is a data visualization tool that illustrates data points at successive intervals of time. Each point on the chart corresponds to both a time and a quantity that is being measured.

Generally, the horizontal axis of the chart or graph is used to plot increments of time and the vertical axis pinpoints values of the variable that is being measured. When the values are connected in chronological order by a straight line that creates a series of peaks and valleys, a time series chart may also be referred to as a fever chart. 

A time series chart can be thought of as a series of snapshots that have been taken at regular intervals. The apples-to-apples comparison provided by this type of chart makes it an ideal tool for executive dashboards that help end users quickly identify a trend, spot an outlier in a cyclical pattern or analyze how a key metric is changing over time.