It presents the general shape of a variation (typically over time) in some measurement, such as temperature or stock market price, in a simple and highly condensed way.

Whereas a typical chart is designed to professionally show as much data as possible, and is set off from the flow of text, sparklines are intended to be succinct, memorable, and located where they are discussed.

[1] The 1888 monograph describing the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa shows barometric signatures of the event obtained at various stations around the world in the same fashion, but in separate plates (VII & VIII), not within the text.

[2] Edward Tufte documented a compact style in 1983 called "intense continuous time-series".

The application was published on November 12, 2009,[12] prompting Tufte[13] to express concerns about patent breadth and non-novelty.