A
system and method are provided for visually distinguishing a plurality of numerical elements from a plurality of non-numeric elements in
source data, in which the plurality of non-numeric elements providing context for the numerical elements. The
system and method comprise the modules and corresponding functionality for selecting a portion of the
source data and for identifying the plurality of numerical elements from the plurality of non-numeric elements in the selected portion of the
source data according to a recognized format of the numerical elements. The
system and method also assign a first
shape object to an identified first numerical element of the plurality of numerical elements such that a
visual property of the first
shape object represents the numerical value of the first numerical element according to a scale, as well as assign a second
shape object to an identified second numerical element of the plurality of numerical elements such that the
visual property of the second shape object represents the numerical value of the second numerical element according to the scale. The system and method also position the first and second shape objects with respect to a
reference surface and assign non-numeric objects to each of the plurality of identified non-numeric elements in the selected portion of the source data. Further, the system and method also position the non-numeric objects with respect to the
reference surface for facilitating maintaining the context of the numerical elements for the numerical objects, such that the objects and
reference surface are configurable for subsequent display as transformed data or storage in a storage for later retrieval.