Animation techniques to visualize data

One embodiment of the present invention includes displaying a first object and a second object with a computer system. The first object represents data corresponding to a first combination of a number of variables and a second object represents data corresponding to a second combination of the variables. The first object is moved in a first pattern and the second object is moved in a second pattern during this display with the computer system. These patterns include a common characteristic to represent one of the variables common to the first and second combinations and a varying characteristic indicative of variation of the one of the variables.