Adding Shapes

A grid containing three shapes: a rectangle, a hexagon, and an octagon.

To add a shape to a Cartesian graph:

  1. Insert a Cartesian graph or edit an existing graph by double-clicking it. The Cartesian Graph dialog box opens.

  2. In the Layers section, click Add.

  3. Select Shape in the Add Cartesian Layer dialog box and then click OK.

  4. Select a Shape.
    Available shapes include:

    • Block

    • Cone

    • Cylinder

    • Grid

    • Heptagon

    • Hexagon

    • Octagon

    • Parallelogram (slanted to the right)

    • Parallelogram2 (slanted to the left)

    • Pentagon

    • Prism

    • Pyramid

    • Rectangle

    • Rhombus 45 (a rhombus with a 45° angle)

    • Rhombus 60 (a rhombus with a 60° angle)

    • Right Triangle (hypotenuse on the right, short side on the bottom)

    • Right Triangle 2 (hypotenuse on the left, short side on the bottom)

    • Right Triangle 3 (hypotenuse on the left, short side on the top)

    • Right Triangle 4 (hypotenuse on the right, short side on the top)

    • Sphere

    • Trapezoid

    • Triangle

  5. Enter the Left and Top coordinates for the shape.

  6. Enter the Width and Height of the shape. If you are creating a Block, enter the Depth.

    Note: The shape is contained in an area defined by the left/top coordinates and the width and height. The graphing tool creates the largest shape based on the width and then centers it in the defined area. The example below shows a 60° rhombus with the following values: Left (0), Top (6), Width (5), Height (6).

    A coordinate graph with a gray rectangle on it. A red parallelogram is inside the rectangle.

  7. Select a Line Color.

  8. Click Fill Color to specify the color of the shaded area of the graph.

  9. Click Fill Shading to specify the pattern applied to the shaded area of the graph.

  10. If you want the layer to display only if a certain condition is met, enter an equation or a variable that evaluates to true or false into the Show if field. .

    Note: When entering variables, enclose the variable name in two opening and two closing number signs (for example, ##var1## = 3). The variable you reference must be defined for the question or the preface associated with the question.

  11. Click OK.