How to Graph Tide Information
- 1). Draw an X-Y axis on a piece of graphing paper. You only need one quadrant, so don't continue the X-axis to the left of the Y-axis or the Y-axis beneath the X-axis. Label the X-axis "Time" and the Y-axis "Height."
- 2). Mark the units on your graph. For example, if your chart lists the tide each hour, mark the X-axis with the hours; if your chart lists the tide each half-hour, mark the X-axis in half-hours.
- 3). Label the Y-axis in feet, meters or whatever unit the chart uses. Check the precision of the chart, and make your graph as detailed. For example, if your chart only lists feet in whole numbers, label your Y-axis "1 foot, 2 feet, 3 feet..."; if your chart includes decimals, label your graph ".2 feet, .4 feet, .6 feet..." so you can graph accurately.
- 4). Look at your tide chart. Plot the first point on the graph. For example, if the first time on the chart is midnight and the tide was 2 feet at that time, put a dot at (0,2), which should be labeled "12:00" on the X-axis and "2 feet" on the Y-axis.
- 5). Plot the remaining information from the chart on the graph. Join the points with wavy lines.
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