Naming Basics Best practice recommendations are to create a chart placing independent variables on the horizontal, x-axis and dependent variables on the vertical, y-axis.

How to Change the Intervals on an X-Axis in Excel. The X-axis, which is the horizontal axis, on most Excel charts does not use numeric intervals like the vertical Y-axis does.

If you have uneven distribution of data in your Excel chart, here is a better way to change the automatic axis settings.