by + gerund

[Offroad]

Dear teachers

Does the following sentence read well?

By constructing this graph/chart, it was possible to say/tell the nature of the problem.

Thanks

[Bennevis]

By constructing this graph/chart, it was possible to say/tell the nature of the problem.

Constructing this graph/chart made it possible to identify the nature of the problem.

[emsr2d2]

Dear teachers

Does the following sentence read well?

By constructing this graph/chart, it was possible to say/tell the nature of the problem.

Thanks

Your use of "by" + verb+ing is correct.

By looking at the chart, we can see what the problem was.
By reading the signs, we can find our way there easily.

[Tdol]

It is grammatically OK, but is it the construction of the chart that did this or the reading/analysing that occurred when the chart was made?

[Offroad]

Well, I think the conclusion came out after analysing the chart, not while constructing it.

[Tdol]

How about something like this, then?

From this graph, it was possible to tell the nature of the problem

[Offroad]

Yes, possible. But it is needed to state that the chart had to be constructed, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to tell the nature of the problem.

The original sentence is:

By constructing graphs of y versus x, it was possible to determine the constant k through experimental data fitting using the ASR1/ASR1 software programs.

Thanks

[Bennevis]

By constructing ..., we were able to determine...