The most basic thing that one must know in order to use Flot is to understand how to create a data set. The data set is the actual raw data that Flot uses to construct your chart.

While some other libraries make this difficult to accomplish, Flot actually makes it very simple. In the most basic form, a Flot data set is actually just a multi-dimensional array.

The following is an example of constructing a very basic data set.
var data_set = [[2, 1], [3, 8], [4, 5], [5, 13]];

When this data set is placed on the chart, a line will be created that starts at (2, 1), goes to (3, 8), and so on through the entire data set.

If you want to create a break in your line, you are able to do that as well. Take this for example:
var data_set = [[2, 1], [3, 8], null, [4, 5], [5, 13]];

By placing the null value, we have essentially split the line in half.

Now with a little math, you can create mathematical charts.

var sine_wave = [];
for (var i = 0; i < 14; i += 0.5)
   sine_wave.push([i, Math.sin(i)]);


This data set will create a sine wave.

Now that you have the basic idea how to create a data set, we can continue on to actually creating a chart and placing it on a web page.