Histograms calculate the distribution of values and present them as a bar chart. Each bar represents a bucket; the y-axis and the height of each bar represent the count of values that fall into each bucket, and the x-axis represents the value range.
For example, if you want to understand the distribution of people's heights, you can use a histogram visualization to identify patterns or insights in the data distribution:
{{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/histogram-panel/histogram-example-v8-0.png"max-width="1025px"alt="A histogram visualization showing the distribution of people's heights">}}
You can use a histogram visualization if you need to:
- Visualize and analyze data distributions over a specific time range to see how frequently certain values occur.
- Identify any outliers in your data distribution.
- Provide statistical analysis to help with decision-making
## Configure a histogram visualization
Once you’ve created a [dashboard](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/<GRAFANA_VERSION>/dashboards/build-dashboards/create-dashboard/), the following video shows you how to configure a histogram visualization:
{{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/histogram-panel/histogram-example-time-series.png"max-width="1025px"alt="A histogram visualization showing the random walk distribution.">}}
{{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/histogram-panel/histogram-example-height-weight.png"max-width="1025px"alt="A histogram visualization showing the male height and weight distribution">}}
Specifies the number of bins used to group your data in the histogram, affecting the granularity of the displayed distribution. Leave this empty for automatic bucket count of 30.
The size of the buckets. Leave this empty for automatic bucket sizing (~10% of the full range).
### Bucket offset
If the first bucket should not start at zero. A non-zero offset has the effect of shifting the aggregation window. For example, 5-sized buckets that are 0-5, 5-10, 10-15 with a default 0 offset would become 2-7, 7-12, 12-17 with an offset of 2; offsets of 0, 5, or 10, in this case, would effectively do nothing. Typically, this option would be used with an explicitly defined bucket size rather than automatic. For this setting to affect, the offset amount should be greater than 0 and less than the bucket size; values outside this range will have the same effect as values within this range.
### Combine series
This will merge all series and fields into a combined histogram.
Set the mode of the gradient fill. Fill gradient is based on the line color. To change the color, use the standard [color scheme](ref:color-scheme) field option.
- **None** - No gradient fill. This is the default setting.
- **Opacity** - Transparency of the gradient is calculated based on the values on the Y-axis. The opacity of the fill is increasing with the values on the Y-axis.
- **Hue** - Gradient color is generated based on the hue of the line color.
- **Scheme** - The selected [color palette](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/panels-visualizations/configure-standard-options/#color-scheme) is applied to the histogram bars.
