MATLAB’s Plotting Routines

comet

Just like plot, but comet animates the trajectory; it helps to have a larger vector to slow down the comet trace a tad

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=exp(-0.4*x).*sin(x);

plot(x,y); figure(2)

comet(x,y); figure(3)

ribbon(x,y);figure(4)

y2=100*exp(-0.4*x).*cos(x);

plotyy(x,y,x,y2)

plot

Plots data passed in by vectors

plotyy

Plots data where y values may differ greatly — it makes two y-axes

ribbon

Like plot, but it displays the data as 3D ribbons

fplot, fimplicit

Plots the expression or function

fplot(@(x) sin(x),[-2*pi 2*pi])

loglog

Plots data on a log scale on both x- and y-axes — y proportional to a power of x is straight on this plot

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=10*x.^pi;

loglog(x,y)

semilogx

X-axis data is on a log scale and the y-axis is on a linear scale — y linearly related to log(x) is straight on this plot

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=10*log(x)+pi;

semilogx(x,y);

semilogy

Y-axis data is on a log scale and x-axis linear — y proportional to exponential of x is straight on this plot

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=10*exp(pi*x);

semilogy(x,y);

area

Acts just like plot except for the fact that it fills in the area for you

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=exp(-0.4*x).*sin(x);

area(x,y)

bar

Creates a standard bar chart that can handle both grouping and stacking

x=[8,7,6;13,21,15;32,27,32];

bar(x); figure(2)

y=sum(x,2);

bar(y); figure(3)

bar(x,'stacked'); figure(4)

barh(x); figure(5)

bar3(x); figure(6)

bar3h(x)

barh

Just like bar except plot is horizontal

bar3

Adds a little 3D pizazz to a standard bar chart

bar3h

Creates a 3D horizontal bar chart

compass

Like polar, but compass shows data as vectors from origin

compass(rand(1,3)-0.5,…

rand(1,3)-0.5)

ezpolar

Creates a polar plot where the distance from origin vs. angle is plotted — argument is function expression

ezpolar('cos(2*x)^2');

fill

Fills polygons (vector inputs define vertices) with the specified color

y=sin([0:2*pi/5:2*pi])

x=cos([0:2*pi/5:2*pi])

fill(x,y,'g')

pie

Creates a standard pie chart

x=[2,4,6,8];

pie(x); figure(2)

pie3(x)

pie3

Adds some 3D pizazz to pie

polar

Creates a polar plot like ezpolar but does so by accepting vector arguments — x value corresponds to angle and y value to distance from origin

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=(exp(-0.1*x).*sin(x)).^2;

polar(x,y)

errorbar

Like scatter but adds error bars

x=[0:2*pi/100:2*pi];

y=10*x+pi+10*randn(1,101);

scatter(x,y); figure(2)

stem(x,y); figure(3)

errorbar(x,y,10*ones(1,101),ones(1,101))

figure(4);

hist(y); figure(5)

histogram(y)

histc(y,[-40:20:80])

histcounts(y,5)

hist, histogram

Creates a histogram — a bar chart showing the frequency of occurrence of data vs. value. These two routines handle the bins differently

scatter

Plots (x,y) data points

stem

Like scatter, but adds a line from the x axis to a data point

histc

Related to hist, but rather than making a plot, it makes a vector of counts

histc(y,[-40:20:80])

histcounts

Like histc except it creates n bins

histcounts(y,5)

stairs

Like scatter, but makes stairsteps when y values change

x=[0:2*pi/10:2*pi];

y=10*x+pi+10*randn(1,11);

stairs(x,y)

rose

A cross between polar and histogram; it displays frequency vs. angle

rose(randn(1,100),5)

pareto

A bar chart arranged with the highest bars first

histc(randn(1,100),[-4:1:4])

pareto(ans)

spy

A scatter plot of zeros in a matrix

mymat=rand(5);

mymat=(mymat>0.5).*mymat;

spy(mymat)

plotmatrix

A scatter plot of all permutations of columns of x and y

plotmatrix(magic(3),magic(3))

contour

Creates a contour plot with matrix arguments

x=[-2*pi:4*pi/100:2*pi];

y=[-2*pi:4*pi/100:2*pi];z=cos(x)'*cos(y);

contour(x,y,z);title('contour');figure(2)

contourf(x,y,z);title('contourf');figure(3)

contour3(x,y,z);title('contour3');figure(4)

surf(x,y,z);title('surf');figure(5)

surface(x,y,z);title('surface');figure(6)

mesh(x,y,z);title('mesh');figure(7)

waterfall(x,y,z);title('waterfall');figure(8)

surfc(x,y,z);title('surfc');figure(9)

meshc(x,y,z);title('meshc');figure(10)

meshz(x,y,z);title('meshz');figure(11)

surfl(x,y,z);title('surfl');figure(12)

pcolor(z);title('surfl')

contourf

Same as contour, except contourf fills in the contours

contour3

Same as contour, except contour3 provides a 3D perspective

mesh

Creates a wireframe mesh surface

meshc

Wireframe mesh with contour

meshz

Wireframe mesh with a curtain around the plot

pcolor

Shows values of the matrix as colors

surfc

Same as surf, but with contour plot added

surf, surface

Creates a filled surface

surfl

Same as surf, except surfl simulates light and shadow

waterfall

Like mesh, but all column lines are omitted

fcontour

Plots the function as a contour

x = (-5:.1:5);

y = (-5:.1:5);

f = @(x,y) sin(x) + cos(y);

fcontour(f)

fill3

Like fill except in 3D; note that the fill area may not be coplanar

fill3([0,1,1,0],[0,0,1,0],[0,1,0,1],'g')

fmesh

Plots the function as a mesh

x = (-5:.1:5);

y = (-5:.1:5);

f = @(x,y) sin(x) + cos(y);

fmesh(f)

fplot3

Plots a series of three functions expressing x-, y-, and z-axes as a parametric curve

t = (-5:.1:5);

x=sin(t);

y=cos(t);

z=t;

xt = @(t) sin(t);

yt = @(t) cos(t);

zt = @(t) t;

fplot3(xt,yt,zt)

fsurf

Plots the function as a 3D surface

x = (-5:.1:5);

y = (-5:.1:5);

f = @(x,y) sin(x) + cos(y);

fsurf(f)

plot3

Like ezplot3, except it takes vector arguments

a=[-2*pi:4*pi/100:2*pi];

x=sin(a); y=cos(a);

z=sin(3*a/2);

plot3(x,y,z);

figure(2)

scatter3(x,y,z)

scatter3

Like plot3, but shows individual points

stem3

Stem plot of 3D data

stem3(rand(5))

surfnorm

Creates surface plot with normal vectors

[x,y,z]=peaks; % Test function

surfnorm(x,y,z)

coneplot

Like quiver3, but coneplot shows velocity as cones

[x,y,z]=meshgrid([-5:2:3],[-3:2:3],[-3:2:3]);

r=sqrt(x.^2+y.^2+z.^2);

u=ones(4,5,4)+(10./r.^2).*cos(atan2(y,x)).*sin(acos(z./r));

v=(10./r.^2).*sin(atan2(y,x)).*sin(acos(z./r));

w=10.*z./r; quiver3(x,y,z,u,v,w);hold on;

streamribbon(x,y,z,u,v,w,-5,0,.1);figure(2)

coneplot(x,y,z,u,v,w,x,y,z);figure(3)

quiver3(x,y,z,u,v,w);hold on;

streamtube(x,y,z,u,v,w,-5,0,.1);

quiver3

Like quiver for 3D; the example adds a uniform velocity field to a 1/r2 velocity field

streamribbon

Like streamline, but shows ribbons

streamtube

Like streamline, but plots tubes (cylindrical 3D flow lines)

feather

Similar to compass, except it steps once for each element in x and y

feather(rand(1,3)-0.5,rand(1,3)-0.5)

quiver

Works like feather, except quiver plots vectors in an x-y plane

[x,y]=meshgrid([-5:5],[-5:5]);

u=ones(11)+(4./(sqrt(x.^2+y.^2)).*cos(atan2(y,x)));

v=(4./(sqrt(x.^2+y.^2)).*sin(atan2(y,x)));

v(6,6)=0; u(6,6)=0;

quiver(x,y,u,v); hold on

streamline(x,y,u,v,[-5,-5,-5],[-1,.01,1]); hold off

streamline

Plots line from the vector field; the example plots 2D streamline on the same plot as quiver