multiple inputs on x axis

Question

Please look at my table and graph below:

height  status
110         1
150         2
200         3

Great, I have done three measurements. I input height of people and I have an Y axis, which represent a status. I inserted independent values on x and y the target data. I got this lovely scatter graph. Perfect.

Now my question is:

How do you apply multiple independent values to graph? Let's say I have:

height  weight  age status
110       50    10  1
150       100   20  2
200       200   30  3

for which I want to have all three independent values (height, weight, age) on X axis and status value on Y axis of course? What would be the correct way to place it in graph? I would really appreciate if you could help me understand that. Please be at least simplistic as possible. Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

For each variable you want to plot, you need an axis. If you have four variables, you - in principle - need a four-dimensional space to plot in.

Well, that's of course no good, so what can we do? A common thing to do in these scenarios is to use the left vertical side of the plot as one axis and the right as another, like this.

But this allows only for three variables to be plotted at the same time. If you want, you could simply add a third dimension, but I wouldn't recommend it, as it becomes messy. Rather, I'd simply make two plot: Use the same $x$-variable on both and have two $y$-axis on one plot and a single $y$-axis (with the last variable) on the second plot.