2D Plotting

Sage provides extensive 2D plotting functionality. The underlying rendering is done using the matplotlib Python library.

The following graphics primitives are supported:

  • arrow() - an arrow from a min point to a max point.
  • circle() - a circle with given radius
  • ellipse() - an ellipse with given radii and angle
  • arc() - an arc of a circle or an ellipse
  • disk() - a filled disk (i.e. a sector or wedge of a circle)
  • line() - a line determined by a sequence of points (this need not be straight!)
  • point() - a point
  • text() - some text
  • polygon() - a filled polygon

The following plotting functions are supported:

The following miscellaneous Graphics functions are included:

Type ? after each primitive in Sage for help and examples.

EXAMPLES:

We draw a curve:

sage: plot(x^2, (x,0,5))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-1.svg

We draw a circle and a curve:

sage: circle((1,1), 1) + plot(x^2, (x,0,5))
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-2.svg

Notice that the aspect ratio of the above plot makes the plot very tall because the plot adopts the default aspect ratio of the circle (to make the circle appear like a circle). We can change the aspect ratio to be what we normally expect for a plot by explicitly asking for an ‘automatic’ aspect ratio:

sage: show(circle((1,1), 1) + plot(x^2, (x,0,5)), aspect_ratio='automatic')

The aspect ratio describes the apparently height/width ratio of a unit square. If you want the vertical units to be twice as big as the horizontal units, specify an aspect ratio of 2:

sage: show(circle((1,1), 1) + plot(x^2, (x,0,5)), aspect_ratio=2)

The figsize option adjusts the figure size. The default figsize is 4. To make a figure that is roughly twice as big, use figsize=8:

sage: show(circle((1,1), 1) + plot(x^2, (x,0,5)), figsize=8)

You can also give separate horizontal and vertical dimensions. Both will be measured in inches:

sage: show(circle((1,1), 1) + plot(x^2, (x,0,5)), figsize=[4,8])

However, do not make the figsize too big (e.g. one dimension greater than 327 or both in the mid-200s) as this will lead to errors or crashes. See show() for full details.

Note that the axes will not cross if the data is not on both sides of both axes, even if it is quite close:

sage: plot(x^3, (x,1,10))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-3.svg

When the labels have quite different orders of magnitude or are very large, scientific notation (the \(e\) notation for powers of ten) is used:

sage: plot(x^2, (x,480,500))  # no scientific notation
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-4.svg
sage: plot(x^2, (x,300,500))  # scientific notation on y-axis
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-5.svg

But you can fix your own tick labels, if you know what to expect and have a preference:

sage: plot(x^2, (x,300,500), ticks=[100,50000])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-6.svg

To change the ticks on one axis only, use the following notation:

sage: plot(x^2, (x,300,500), ticks=[None,50000])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-7.svg

You can even have custom tick labels along with custom positioning.

sage: plot(x^2, (x,0,3), ticks=[[1,2.5],pi/2], tick_formatter=[["$x_1$","$x_2$"],pi]) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-8.svg

We construct a plot involving several graphics objects:

sage: G = plot(cos(x), (x, -5, 5), thickness=5, color='green', title='A plot')
sage: P = polygon([[1,2], [5,6], [5,0]], color='red')
sage: G + P
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-9.svg

Next we construct the reflection of the above polygon about the \(y\)-axis by iterating over the list of first-coordinates of the first graphic element of P (which is the actual Polygon; note that P is a Graphics object, which consists of a single polygon):

sage: Q = polygon([(-x,y) for x,y in P[0]], color='blue')
sage: Q   # show it
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-10.svg

We combine together different graphics objects using “+”:

sage: H = G + P + Q
sage: print(H)
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
sage: type(H)
<class 'sage.plot.graphics.Graphics'>
sage: H[1]
Polygon defined by 3 points
sage: list(H[1])
[(1.0, 2.0), (5.0, 6.0), (5.0, 0.0)]
sage: H       # show it
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-11.svg

We can put text in a graph:

sage: L = [[cos(pi*i/100)^3,sin(pi*i/100)] for i in range(200)]
sage: p = line(L, rgbcolor=(1/4,1/8,3/4))
sage: t = text('A Bulb', (1.5, 0.25))
sage: x = text('x axis', (1.5,-0.2))
sage: y = text('y axis', (0.4,0.9))
sage: g = p+t+x+y
sage: g.show(xmin=-1.5, xmax=2, ymin=-1, ymax=1)
../../_images/plot-12.svg

We can add a title to a graph:

sage: x = var('x')
sage: plot(x^2, (x,-2,2), title='A plot of $x^2$')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-13.svg

We can set the position of the title:

sage: plot(x^2, (-2,2), title='Plot of $x^2$', title_pos=(0.5,-0.05))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-14.svg

We plot the Riemann zeta function along the critical line and see the first few zeros:

sage: i = CDF.0      # define i this way for maximum speed.
sage: p1 = plot(lambda t: arg(zeta(0.5+t*i)), 1, 27, rgbcolor=(0.8,0,0))
sage: p2 = plot(lambda t: abs(zeta(0.5+t*i)), 1, 27, color=hue(0.7))
sage: print(p1 + p2)
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
sage: p1 + p2    # display it
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-15.svg

Note

Not all functions in Sage are symbolic. When plotting non-symbolic functions they should be wrapped in lambda:

sage: plot(lambda x:fibonacci(round(x)), (x,1,10))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-16.svg

Many concentric circles shrinking toward the origin:

sage: show(sum(circle((i,0), i, hue=sin(i/10)) for i in [10,9.9,..,0])) # long time
../../_images/plot-17.svg

Here is a pretty graph:

sage: g = Graphics()
sage: for i in range(60):
....:    p = polygon([(i*cos(i),i*sin(i)), (0,i), (i,0)],\
....:                color=hue(i/40+0.4), alpha=0.2)
....:    g = g + p
sage: g.show(dpi=200, axes=False)
../../_images/plot-18.svg

Another graph:

sage: x = var('x')
sage: P = plot(sin(x)/x, -4, 4, color='blue') + \
....:     plot(x*cos(x), -4, 4, color='red') + \
....:     plot(tan(x), -4, 4, color='green')
sage: P.show(ymin=-pi, ymax=pi)
../../_images/plot-19.svg

PYX EXAMPLES: These are some examples of plots similar to some of the plots in the PyX (http://pyx.sourceforge.net) documentation:

Symbolline:

sage: y(x) = x*sin(x^2)
sage: v = [(x, y(x)) for x in [-3,-2.95,..,3]]
sage: show(points(v, rgbcolor=(0.2,0.6, 0.1), pointsize=30) + plot(spline(v), -3.1, 3))
../../_images/plot-20.svg

Cycliclink:

sage: g1 = plot(cos(20*x)*exp(-2*x), 0, 1)
sage: g2 = plot(2*exp(-30*x) - exp(-3*x), 0, 1)
sage: show(graphics_array([g1, g2], 2, 1))
../../_images/plot-21.svg

Pi Axis:

sage: g1 = plot(sin(x), 0, 2*pi)
sage: g2 = plot(cos(x), 0, 2*pi, linestyle="--")
sage: (g1+g2).show(ticks=pi/6, tick_formatter=pi)  # long time # show their sum, nicely formatted
../../_images/plot-22.svg

An illustration of integration:

sage: f(x) = (x-3)*(x-5)*(x-7)+40
sage: P = line([(2,0),(2,f(2))], color='black')
sage: P += line([(8,0),(8,f(8))], color='black')
sage: P += polygon([(2,0),(2,f(2))] + [(x, f(x)) for x in [2,2.1,..,8]] + [(8,0),(2,0)],  rgbcolor=(0.8,0.8,0.8),aspect_ratio='automatic')
sage: P += text("$\\int_{a}^b f(x) dx$", (5, 20), fontsize=16, color='black')
sage: P += plot(f, (1, 8.5), thickness=3)
sage: P    # show the result
Graphics object consisting of 5 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-23.svg

NUMERICAL PLOTTING:

Sage includes Matplotlib, which provides 2D plotting with an interface that is a likely very familiar to people doing numerical computation. You can use plt.clf() to clear the current image frame and plt.close() to close it. For example,

sage: import pylab as plt
sage: t = plt.arange(0.0, 2.0, 0.01)
sage: s = sin(2*pi*t)
sage: P = plt.plot(t, s, linewidth=1.0)
sage: xl = plt.xlabel('time (s)')
sage: yl = plt.ylabel('voltage (mV)')
sage: t = plt.title('About as simple as it gets, folks')
sage: plt.grid(True)
sage: plt.savefig(os.path.join(SAGE_TMP, 'sage.png'))
sage: plt.clf()
sage: plt.savefig(os.path.join(SAGE_TMP, 'blank.png'))
sage: plt.close()
sage: plt.imshow([[1,2],[0,1]])
<matplotlib.image.AxesImage object at ...>

We test that imshow works as well, verifying that trac ticket #2900 is fixed (in Matplotlib).

sage: plt.imshow([[(0.0,0.0,0.0)]])
<matplotlib.image.AxesImage object at ...>
sage: plt.savefig(os.path.join(SAGE_TMP, 'foo.png'))

Since the above overwrites many Sage plotting functions, we reset the state of Sage, so that the examples below work!

sage: reset()

See http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net for complete documentation about how to use Matplotlib.

AUTHORS:

  • Alex Clemesha and William Stein (2006-04-10): initial version
  • David Joyner: examples
  • Alex Clemesha (2006-05-04) major update
  • William Stein (2006-05-29): fine tuning, bug fixes, better server integration
  • William Stein (2006-07-01): misc polish
  • Alex Clemesha (2006-09-29): added contour_plot, frame axes, misc polishing
  • Robert Miller (2006-10-30): tuning, NetworkX primitive
  • Alex Clemesha (2006-11-25): added plot_vector_field, matrix_plot, arrow, bar_chart, Axes class usage (see axes.py)
  • Bobby Moretti and William Stein (2008-01): Change plot to specify ranges using the (varname, min, max) notation.
  • William Stein (2008-01-19): raised the documentation coverage from a miserable 12 percent to a ‘wopping’ 35 percent, and fixed and clarified numerous small issues.
  • Jason Grout (2009-09-05): shifted axes and grid functionality over to matplotlib; fixed a number of smaller issues.
  • Jason Grout (2010-10): rewrote aspect ratio portions of the code
  • Jeroen Demeyer (2012-04-19): move parts of this file to graphics.py (trac ticket #12857)
  • Aaron Lauve (2016-07-13): reworked handling of ‘color’ when passed a list of functions; now more in-line with other CAS’s. Added list functionality to linestyle and legend_label options as well. (trac ticket #12962)
sage.plot.plot.SelectiveFormatter(formatter, skip_values)

This matplotlib formatter selectively omits some tick values and passes the rest on to a specified formatter.

EXAMPLES:

This example is almost straight from a matplotlib example.

sage: from sage.plot.plot import SelectiveFormatter
sage: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
sage: import numpy
sage: fig=plt.figure()
sage: ax=fig.add_subplot(111)
sage: t = numpy.arange(0.0, 2.0, 0.01)
sage: s = numpy.sin(2*numpy.pi*t)
sage: p = ax.plot(t, s)
sage: formatter=SelectiveFormatter(ax.xaxis.get_major_formatter(),skip_values=[0,1])
sage: ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
sage: fig.savefig(os.path.join(SAGE_TMP, 'test.png'))
sage.plot.plot.adaptive_refinement(f, p1, p2, adaptive_tolerance=0.01, adaptive_recursion=5, level=0)

The adaptive refinement algorithm for plotting a function f. See the docstring for plot for a description of the algorithm.

INPUT:

  • f - a function of one variable
  • p1, p2 - two points to refine between
  • adaptive_recursion - (default: 5) how many levels of recursion to go before giving up when doing adaptive refinement. Setting this to 0 disables adaptive refinement.
  • adaptive_tolerance - (default: 0.01) how large a relative difference should be before the adaptive refinement code considers it significant; see documentation for generate_plot_points for more information. See the documentation for plot() for more information on how the adaptive refinement algorithm works.

OUTPUT:

  • list - a list of points to insert between p1 and p2 to get a better linear approximation between them
sage.plot.plot.generate_plot_points(f, xrange, plot_points=5, adaptive_tolerance=0.01, adaptive_recursion=5, randomize=True, initial_points=None)

Calculate plot points for a function f in the interval xrange. The adaptive refinement algorithm is also automatically invoked with a relative adaptive tolerance of adaptive_tolerance; see below.

INPUT:

  • f - a function of one variable
  • p1, p2 - two points to refine between
  • plot_points - (default: 5) the minimal number of plot points. (Note however that in any actual plot a number is passed to this, with default value 200.)
  • adaptive_recursion - (default: 5) how many levels of recursion to go before giving up when doing adaptive refinement. Setting this to 0 disables adaptive refinement.
  • adaptive_tolerance - (default: 0.01) how large the relative difference should be before the adaptive refinement code considers it significant. If the actual difference is greater than adaptive_tolerance*delta, where delta is the initial subinterval size for the given xrange and plot_points, then the algorithm will consider it significant.
  • initial_points - (default: None) a list of points that should be evaluated.

OUTPUT:

  • a list of points (x, f(x)) in the interval xrange, which approximate the function f.
sage.plot.plot.graphics_array(array, nrows=None, ncols=None)

Plot a list of lists (or tuples) of graphics objects on one canvas, arranged as an array.

INPUT:

  • array – either a list of lists of Graphics elements or a single list of Graphics elements
  • nrows, ncols – (optional) integers. If both are given then the input array is flattened and turned into an nrows x ncols array, with blank graphics objects padded at the end, if necessary. If only one is specified, the other is chosen automatically.

OUTPUT:

EXAMPLES: Make some plots of \(\sin\) functions:

sage: f(x) = sin(x)
sage: g(x) = sin(2*x)
sage: h(x) = sin(4*x)
sage: p1 = plot(f, (-2*pi,2*pi), color=hue(0.5)) # long time
sage: p2 = plot(g, (-2*pi,2*pi), color=hue(0.9)) # long time
sage: p3 = parametric_plot((f,g), (0,2*pi), color=hue(0.6)) # long time
sage: p4 = parametric_plot((f,h), (0,2*pi), color=hue(1.0)) # long time

Now make a graphics array out of the plots:

sage: graphics_array(((p1,p2), (p3,p4))) # long time
Graphics Array of size 2 x 2
../../_images/plot-24.svg

One can also name the array, and then use show() or save():

sage: ga = graphics_array(((p1,p2), (p3,p4))) # long time
sage: ga.show() # long time; same output as above

Here we give only one row:

sage: p1 = plot(sin,(-4,4))
sage: p2 = plot(cos,(-4,4))
sage: ga = graphics_array([p1, p2])
sage: ga
Graphics Array of size 1 x 2
sage: ga.show()
../../_images/plot-25.svg

It is possible to use figsize to change the size of the plot as a whole:

sage: L = [plot(sin(k*x), (x,-pi,pi)) for k in [1..3]]
sage: ga = graphics_array(L)
sage: ga.show(figsize=[5,3])  # smallish and compact
../../_images/plot-26.svg
sage: ga.show(figsize=[5,7])  # tall and thin; long time
../../_images/plot-27.svg
sage: ga.show(figsize=4)  # width=4 inches, height fixed from default aspect ratio
../../_images/plot-28.svg

Specifying only the number of rows or the number of columns computes the other dimension automatically:

sage: ga = graphics_array([plot(sin)] * 10, nrows=3)
sage: ga.nrows(), ga.ncols()
(3, 4)
sage: ga = graphics_array([plot(sin)] * 10, ncols=3)
sage: ga.nrows(), ga.ncols()
(4, 3)
sage: ga = graphics_array([plot(sin)] * 4, nrows=2)
sage: ga.nrows(), ga.ncols()
(2, 2)
sage: ga = graphics_array([plot(sin)] * 6, ncols=2)
sage: ga.nrows(), ga.ncols()
(3, 2)

The options like fontsize, scale or frame passed to individual plots are preserved:

sage: p1 = plot(sin(x^2), (x, 0, 6),
....:           axes_labels=[r'$\theta$', r'$\sin(\theta^2)$'], fontsize=16)
sage: p2 = plot(x^3, (x, 1, 100), axes_labels=[r'$x$', r'$y$'],
....:           scale='semilogy', frame=True, gridlines='minor')
sage: ga = graphics_array([p1, p2])
sage: ga.show()
../../_images/plot-29.svg

See also

GraphicsArray for more examples

sage.plot.plot.list_plot(data, plotjoined=False, aspect_ratio='automatic', **kwargs)

list_plot takes either a list of numbers, a list of tuples, a numpy array, or a dictionary and plots the corresponding points.

If given a list of numbers (that is, not a list of tuples or lists), list_plot forms a list of tuples (i, x_i) where i goes from 0 to len(data)-1 and x_i is the i-th data value, and puts points at those tuple values.

list_plot will plot a list of complex numbers in the obvious way; any numbers for which CC() makes sense will work.

list_plot also takes a list of tuples (x_i, y_i) where x_i and y_i are the i-th values representing the x- and y-values, respectively.

If given a dictionary, list_plot interprets the keys as \(x\)-values and the values as \(y\)-values.

The plotjoined=True option tells list_plot to plot a line joining all the data.

For other keyword options that the list_plot function can take, refer to plot().

It is possible to pass empty dictionaries, lists, or tuples to list_plot. Doing so will plot nothing (returning an empty plot).

EXAMPLES:

sage: list_plot([i^2 for i in range(5)]) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-30.svg

Here are a bunch of random red points:

sage: r = [(random(),random()) for _ in range(20)]
sage: list_plot(r, color='red')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-31.svg

This gives all the random points joined in a purple line:

sage: list_plot(r, plotjoined=True, color='purple')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-32.svg

You can provide a numpy array.:

sage: import numpy
sage: list_plot(numpy.arange(10))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-33.svg
sage: list_plot(numpy.array([[1,2], [2,3], [3,4]]))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-34.svg

Plot a list of complex numbers:

sage: list_plot([1, I, pi + I/2, CC(.25, .25)])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-35.svg
sage: list_plot([exp(I*theta) for theta in [0, .2..pi]])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-36.svg

Note that if your list of complex numbers are all actually real, they get plotted as real values, so this

sage: list_plot([CDF(1), CDF(1/2), CDF(1/3)])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-37.svg

is the same as list_plot([1, 1/2, 1/3]) – it produces a plot of the points \((0,1)\), \((1,1/2)\), and \((2,1/3)\).

If you have separate lists of \(x\) values and \(y\) values which you want to plot against each other, use the zip command to make a single list whose entries are pairs of \((x,y)\) values, and feed the result into list_plot:

sage: x_coords = [cos(t)^3 for t in srange(0, 2*pi, 0.02)]
sage: y_coords = [sin(t)^3 for t in srange(0, 2*pi, 0.02)]
sage: list_plot(list(zip(x_coords, y_coords)))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-38.svg

If instead you try to pass the two lists as separate arguments, you will get an error message:

sage: list_plot(x_coords, y_coords)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: The second argument 'plotjoined' should be boolean (True or False).  If you meant to plot two lists 'x' and 'y' against each other, use 'list_plot(list(zip(x,y)))'.

Dictionaries with numeric keys and values can be plotted:

sage: list_plot({22: 3365, 27: 3295, 37: 3135, 42: 3020, 47: 2880, 52: 2735, 57: 2550})
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-39.svg

Plotting in logarithmic scale is possible for 2D list plots. There are two different syntaxes available:

sage: yl = [2**k for k in range(20)]
sage: list_plot(yl, scale='semilogy')  # long time  # log axis on vertical
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-40.svg
sage: list_plot_semilogy(yl)       # same
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

Warning

If plotjoined is False then the axis that is in log scale must have all points strictly positive. For instance, the following plot will show no points in the figure since the points in the horizontal axis starts from \((0,1)\). Further, matplotlib will display a user warning.

sage: list_plot(yl, scale='loglog')         # both axes are log
doctest:warning
...
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

Instead this will work. We drop the point \((0,1)\).:

sage: list_plot(list(zip(range(1,len(yl)), yl[1:])), scale='loglog') # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

We use list_plot_loglog() and plot in a different base.:

sage: list_plot_loglog(list(zip(range(1,len(yl)), yl[1:])), base=2) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-41.svg

We can also change the scale of the axes in the graphics just before displaying:

sage: G = list_plot(yl) # long time
sage: G.show(scale=('semilogy', 2)) # long time
sage.plot.plot.list_plot_loglog(data, plotjoined=False, base=10, **kwds)

Plot the data in ‘loglog’ scale, that is, both the horizontal and the vertical axes will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1. The base can be also given as a list or tuple (basex, basey). basex sets the base of the logarithm along the horizontal axis and basey sets the base along the vertical axis.

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of list_plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: yl = [5**k for k in range(10)]; xl = [2**k for k in range(10)]
sage: list_plot_loglog(list(zip(xl, yl))) # long time # plot in loglog scale with base 10
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-42.svg
sage: list_plot_loglog(list(zip(xl, yl)), base=2.1) # long time # with base 2.1 on both axes
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-43.svg
sage: list_plot_loglog(list(zip(xl, yl)), base=(2,5)) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

Warning

If plotjoined is False then the axis that is in log scale must have all points strictly positive. For instance, the following plot will show no points in the figure since the points in the horizontal axis starts from \((0,1)\).

sage: yl = [2**k for k in range(20)]
sage: list_plot_loglog(yl)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

Instead this will work. We drop the point \((0,1)\).:

sage: list_plot_loglog(list(zip(range(1,len(yl)), yl[1:])))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage.plot.plot.list_plot_semilogx(data, plotjoined=False, base=10, **kwds)

Plot data in ‘semilogx’ scale, that is, the horizontal axis will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1.

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of list_plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: yl = [2**k for k in range(12)]
sage: list_plot_semilogx(list(zip(yl,yl)))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-44.svg

Warning

If plotjoined is False then the horizontal axis must have all points strictly positive. Otherwise the plot will come up empty. For instance the following plot contains a point at \((0,1)\).

sage: yl = [2**k for k in range(12)]
sage: list_plot_semilogx(yl) # plot empty due to (0,1)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

We remove \((0,1)\) to fix this.:

sage: list_plot_semilogx(list(zip(range(1, len(yl)), yl[1:])))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

sage: list_plot_semilogx([(1,2),(3,4),(3,-1),(25,3)], base=2) # with base 2
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-45.svg
sage.plot.plot.list_plot_semilogy(data, plotjoined=False, base=10, **kwds)

Plot data in ‘semilogy’ scale, that is, the vertical axis will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1.

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of list_plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: yl = [2**k for k in range(12)]
sage: list_plot_semilogy(yl) # plot in semilogy scale, base 10
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-46.svg

Warning

If plotjoined is False then the vertical axis must have all points strictly positive. Otherwise the plot will come up empty. For instance the following plot contains a point at \((1,0)\). Further, matplotlib will display a user warning.

sage: xl = [2**k for k in range(12)]; yl = range(len(xl))
sage: list_plot_semilogy(list(zip(xl,yl))) # plot empty due to (1,0)
doctest:warning
...
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

We remove \((1,0)\) to fix this.:

sage: list_plot_semilogy(list(zip(xl[1:],yl[1:])))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

sage: list_plot_semilogy([2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 31], base=2) # with base 2
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-47.svg
sage.plot.plot.minmax_data(xdata, ydata, dict=False)

Return the minimums and maximums of xdata and ydata.

If dict is False, then minmax_data returns the tuple (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax); otherwise, it returns a dictionary whose keys are ‘xmin’, ‘xmax’, ‘ymin’, and ‘ymax’ and whose values are the corresponding values.

EXAMPLES:

sage: from sage.plot.plot import minmax_data
sage: minmax_data([], [])
(-1, 1, -1, 1)
sage: minmax_data([-1, 2], [4, -3])
(-1, 2, -3, 4)
sage: minmax_data([1, 2], [4, -3])
(1, 2, -3, 4)
sage: d = minmax_data([-1, 2], [4, -3], dict=True)
sage: list(sorted(d.items()))
[('xmax', 2), ('xmin', -1), ('ymax', 4), ('ymin', -3)]
sage: d = minmax_data([1, 2], [3, 4], dict=True)
sage: list(sorted(d.items()))
[('xmax', 2), ('xmin', 1), ('ymax', 4), ('ymin', 3)]
sage.plot.plot.parametric_plot(funcs, aspect_ratio=1.0, *args, **kwargs)

Plot a parametric curve or surface in 2d or 3d.

parametric_plot() takes two or three functions as a list or a tuple and makes a plot with the first function giving the \(x\) coordinates, the second function giving the \(y\) coordinates, and the third function (if present) giving the \(z\) coordinates.

In the 2d case, parametric_plot() is equivalent to the plot() command with the option parametric=True. In the 3d case, parametric_plot() is equivalent to parametric_plot3d(). See each of these functions for more help and examples.

INPUT:

  • funcs - 2 or 3-tuple of functions, or a vector of dimension 2 or 3.
  • other options - passed to plot() or parametric_plot3d()

EXAMPLES: We draw some 2d parametric plots. Note that the default aspect ratio is 1, so that circles look like circles.

sage: t = var('t')
sage: parametric_plot( (cos(t), sin(t)), (t, 0, 2*pi))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-48.svg
sage: parametric_plot( (sin(t), sin(2*t)), (t, 0, 2*pi), color=hue(0.6) )
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-49.svg
sage: parametric_plot((1, t), (t, 0, 4))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-50.svg

Note that in parametric_plot, there is only fill or no fill.

sage: parametric_plot((t, t^2), (t, -4, 4), fill=True)
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-51.svg

A filled Hypotrochoid:

sage: parametric_plot([cos(x) + 2 * cos(x/4), sin(x) - 2 * sin(x/4)], (x,0, 8*pi), fill=True)
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-52.svg
sage: parametric_plot( (5*cos(x), 5*sin(x), x), (x,-12, 12), plot_points=150, color="red") # long time
Graphics3d Object

sage: y=var('y')
sage: parametric_plot( (5*cos(x), x*y, cos(x*y)), (x, -4,4), (y,-4,4)) # long time`
Graphics3d Object

sage: t=var('t')
sage: parametric_plot( vector((sin(t), sin(2*t))), (t, 0, 2*pi), color='green') # long time
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-55.svg
sage: t = var('t')
sage: parametric_plot( vector([t, t+1, t^2]), (t, 0, 1)) # long time
Graphics3d Object

Plotting in logarithmic scale is possible with 2D plots. The keyword aspect_ratio will be ignored if the scale is not 'loglog' or 'linear'.:

sage: parametric_plot((x, x**2), (x, 1, 10), scale='loglog')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-57.svg

We can also change the scale of the axes in the graphics just before displaying. In this case, the aspect_ratio must be specified as 'automatic' if the scale is set to 'semilogx' or 'semilogy'. For other values of the scale parameter, any aspect_ratio can be used, or the keyword need not be provided.:

sage: p = parametric_plot((x, x**2), (x, 1, 10))
sage: p.show(scale='semilogy', aspect_ratio='automatic')
sage.plot.plot.plot(funcs, exclude=None, fillalpha=0.5, detect_poles=False, plot_points=200, thickness=1, adaptive_tolerance=0.01, fillcolor='automatic', adaptive_recursion=5, aspect_ratio='automatic', alpha=1, legend_label=None, fill=False, *args, **kwds)

Use plot by writing

plot(X, ...)

where \(X\) is a Sage object (or list of Sage objects) that either is callable and returns numbers that can be coerced to floats, or has a plot method that returns a GraphicPrimitive object.

There are many other specialized 2D plot commands available in Sage, such as plot_slope_field, as well as various graphics primitives like Arrow; type sage.plot.plot? for a current list.

Type plot.options for a dictionary of the default options for plots. You can change this to change the defaults for all future plots. Use plot.reset() to reset to the default options.

PLOT OPTIONS:

  • plot_points - (default: 200) the minimal number of plot points.

  • adaptive_recursion - (default: 5) how many levels of recursion to go before giving up when doing adaptive refinement. Setting this to 0 disables adaptive refinement.

  • adaptive_tolerance - (default: 0.01) how large a difference should be before the adaptive refinement code considers it significant. See the documentation further below for more information, starting at “the algorithm used to insert”.

  • base - (default: 10) the base of the logarithm if a logarithmic scale is set. This must be greater than 1. The base can be also given as a list or tuple (basex, basey). basex sets the base of the logarithm along the horizontal axis and basey sets the base along the vertical axis.

  • scale – (default: "linear") string. The scale of the axes. Possible values are "linear", "loglog", "semilogx", "semilogy".

    The scale can be also be given as single argument that is a list or tuple (scale, base) or (scale, basex, basey).

    The "loglog" scale sets both the horizontal and vertical axes to logarithmic scale. The "semilogx" scale sets the horizontal axis to logarithmic scale. The "semilogy" scale sets the vertical axis to logarithmic scale. The "linear" scale is the default value when Graphics is initialized.

  • xmin - starting x value in the rendered figure. This parameter is passed directly to the show procedure and it could be overwritten.

  • xmax - ending x value in the rendered figure. This parameter is passed directly to the show procedure and it could be overwritten.

  • ymin - starting y value in the rendered figure. This parameter is passed directly to the show procedure and it could be overwritten.

  • ymax - ending y value in the rendered figure. This parameter is passed directly to the show procedure and it could be overwritten.

  • detect_poles - (Default: False) If set to True poles are detected. If set to “show” vertical asymptotes are drawn.

  • legend_label - a (TeX) string serving as the label for \(X\) in the legend. If \(X\) is a list, then this option can be a single string, or a list or dictionary with strings as entries/values. If a dictionary, then keys are taken from range(len(X)).

Note

  • If the scale is "linear", then irrespective of what base is set to, it will default to 10 and will remain unused.
  • If you want to limit the plot along the horizontal axis in the final rendered figure, then pass the xmin and xmax keywords to the show() method. To limit the plot along the vertical axis, ymin and ymax keywords can be provided to either this plot command or to the show command.
  • This function does NOT simply sample equally spaced points between xmin and xmax. Instead it computes equally spaced points and adds small perturbations to them. This reduces the possibility of, e.g., sampling \(\sin\) only at multiples of \(2\pi\), which would yield a very misleading graph.
  • If there is a range of consecutive points where the function has no value, then those points will be excluded from the plot. See the example below on automatic exclusion of points.
  • For the other keyword options that the plot function can take, refer to the method show() and the further options below.

COLOR OPTIONS:

  • color - (Default: ‘blue’) One of:
    • an RGB tuple (r,g,b) with each of r,g,b between 0 and 1.
    • a color name as a string (e.g., ‘purple’).
    • an HTML color such as ‘#aaff0b’.
    • a list or dictionary of colors (valid only if \(X\) is a list): if a dictionary, keys are taken from range(len(X)); the entries/values of the list/dictionary may be any of the options above.
    • ‘automatic’ – maps to default (‘blue’) if \(X\) is a single Sage object; and maps to a fixed sequence of regularly spaced colors if \(X\) is a list.
  • legend_color - the color of the text for \(X\) (or each item in \(X\)) in the legend.
    Default color is ‘black’. Options are as in color above, except that the choice ‘automatic’ maps to ‘black’ if \(X\) is a single Sage object.
  • fillcolor - The color of the fill for the plot of \(X\) (or each item in \(X\)).
    Default color is ‘gray’ if \(X\) is a single Sage object or if color is a single color. Otherwise, options are as in color above.

APPEARANCE OPTIONS:

The following options affect the appearance of the line through the points on the graph of \(X\) (these are the same as for the line function):

INPUT:

  • alpha - How transparent the line is
  • thickness - How thick the line is
  • rgbcolor - The color as an RGB tuple
  • hue - The color given as a hue

LINE OPTIONS:

Any MATPLOTLIB line option may also be passed in. E.g.,

  • linestyle - (default: “-“) The style of the line, which is one of

    • "-" or "solid"
    • "--" or "dashed"
    • "-." or "dash dot"
    • ":" or "dotted"
    • "None" or " " or "" (nothing)
    • a list or dictionary (see below)

    The linestyle can also be prefixed with a drawing style (e.g., "steps--")

    • "default" (connect the points with straight lines)
    • "steps" or "steps-pre" (step function; horizontal line is to the left of point)
    • "steps-mid" (step function; points are in the middle of horizontal lines)
    • "steps-post" (step function; horizontal line is to the right of point)

    If \(X\) is a list, then linestyle may be a list (with entries taken from the strings above) or a dictionary (with keys in range(len(X)) and values taken from the strings above).

  • marker - The style of the markers, which is one of

    • "None" or " " or "" (nothing) – default
    • "," (pixel), "." (point)
    • "_" (horizontal line), "|" (vertical line)
    • "o" (circle), "p" (pentagon), "s" (square), "x" (x), "+" (plus), "*" (star)
    • "D" (diamond), "d" (thin diamond)
    • "H" (hexagon), "h" (alternative hexagon)
    • "<" (triangle left), ">" (triangle right), "^" (triangle up), "v" (triangle down)
    • "1" (tri down), "2" (tri up), "3" (tri left), "4" (tri right)
    • 0 (tick left), 1 (tick right), 2 (tick up), 3 (tick down)
    • 4 (caret left), 5 (caret right), 6 (caret up), 7 (caret down), 8 (octagon)
    • "$...$" (math TeX string)
    • (numsides, style, angle) to create a custom, regular symbol
      • numsides – the number of sides
      • style – 0 (regular polygon), 1 (star shape), 2 (asterisk), 3 (circle)
      • angle – the angular rotation in degrees

  • markersize - the size of the marker in points

  • markeredgecolor – the color of the marker edge

  • markerfacecolor – the color of the marker face

  • markeredgewidth - the size of the marker edge in points

  • exclude - (Default: None) values which are excluded from the plot range. Either a list of real numbers, or an equation in one variable.

FILLING OPTIONS:

  • fill - (Default: False) One of:
    • “axis” or True: Fill the area between the function and the x-axis.
    • “min”: Fill the area between the function and its minimal value.
    • “max”: Fill the area between the function and its maximal value.
    • a number c: Fill the area between the function and the horizontal line y = c.
    • a function g: Fill the area between the function that is plotted and g.
    • a dictionary d (only if a list of functions are plotted): The keys of the dictionary should be integers. The value of d[i] specifies the fill options for the i-th function in the list. If d[i] == [j]: Fill the area between the i-th and the j-th function in the list. (But if d[i] == j: Fill the area between the i-th function in the list and the horizontal line y = j.)
  • fillalpha - (default: 0.5) How transparent the fill is. A number between 0 and 1.

MATPLOTLIB STYLE SHEET OPTION:

  • stylesheet - (Default: classic) Support for loading a full matplotlib style sheet. Any style sheet listed in matplotlib.pyplot.style.available is acceptable. If a non-existing style is provided the default classic is applied.

EXAMPLES:

We plot the \(\sin\) function:

sage: P = plot(sin, (0,10)); print(P)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage: len(P)     # number of graphics primitives
1
sage: len(P[0])  # how many points were computed (random)
225
sage: P          # render
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-58.svg
sage: P = plot(sin, (0,10), plot_points=10); print(P)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage: len(P[0])  # random output
32
sage: P          # render
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-59.svg

We plot with randomize=False, which makes the initial sample points evenly spaced (hence always the same). Adaptive plotting might insert other points, however, unless adaptive_recursion=0.

sage: p=plot(1, (x,0,3), plot_points=4, randomize=False, adaptive_recursion=0)
sage: list(p[0])
[(0.0, 1.0), (1.0, 1.0), (2.0, 1.0), (3.0, 1.0)]

Some colored functions:

sage: plot(sin, 0, 10, color='purple')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-60.svg
sage: plot(sin, 0, 10, color='#ff00ff')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-61.svg

We plot several functions together by passing a list of functions as input:

sage: plot([x*exp(-n*x^2)/.4 for n in [1..5]], (0, 2), aspect_ratio=.8)
Graphics object consisting of 5 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-62.svg

By default, color will change from one primitive to the next. This may be controlled by modifying color option:

sage: g1 = plot([x*exp(-n*x^2)/.4 for n in [1..3]], (0, 2), color='blue', aspect_ratio=.8); g1
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
sage: g2 = plot([x*exp(-n*x^2)/.4 for n in [1..3]], (0, 2), color=['red','red','green'], linestyle=['-','--','-.'], aspect_ratio=.8); g2
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-63.svg

We can also build a plot step by step from an empty plot:

sage: a = plot([]); a       # passing an empty list returns an empty plot (Graphics() object)
Graphics object consisting of 0 graphics primitives
sage: a += plot(x**2); a    # append another plot
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-64.svg
sage: a += plot(x**3); a    # append yet another plot
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-65.svg

The function \(\sin(1/x)\) wiggles wildly near \(0\). Sage adapts to this and plots extra points near the origin.

sage: plot(sin(1/x), (x, -1, 1))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-66.svg

Via the matplotlib library, Sage makes it easy to tell whether a graph is on both sides of both axes, as the axes only cross if the origin is actually part of the viewing area:

sage: plot(x^3,(x,0,2))  # this one has the origin
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-67.svg
sage: plot(x^3,(x,1,2))  # this one does not
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-68.svg

Another thing to be aware of with axis labeling is that when the labels have quite different orders of magnitude or are very large, scientific notation (the \(e\) notation for powers of ten) is used:

sage: plot(x^2,(x,480,500))  # this one has no scientific notation
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-69.svg
sage: plot(x^2,(x,300,500))  # this one has scientific notation on y-axis
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-70.svg

You can put a legend with legend_label (the legend is only put once in the case of multiple functions):

sage: plot(exp(x), 0, 2, legend_label='$e^x$')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-71.svg

Sage understands TeX, so these all are slightly different, and you can choose one based on your needs:

sage: plot(sin, legend_label='sin')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-72.svg
sage: plot(sin, legend_label='$sin$')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-73.svg
sage: plot(sin, legend_label=r'$\sin$')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-74.svg

It is possible to use a different color for the text of each label:

sage: p1 = plot(sin, legend_label='sin', legend_color='red')
sage: p2 = plot(cos, legend_label='cos', legend_color='green')
sage: p1 + p2
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-75.svg

Prior to trac ticket #19485, legends by default had a shadowless gray background. This behavior can be recovered by setting the legend options on your plot object:

sage: p = plot(sin(x), legend_label=r'$\sin(x)$')
sage: p.set_legend_options(back_color=(0.9,0.9,0.9), shadow=False)
../../_images/plot-76.svg

If \(X\) is a list of Sage objects and legend_label is ‘automatic’, then Sage will create labels for each function according to their internal representation:

sage: plot([sin(x), tan(x), 1-x^2], legend_label='automatic')
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-77.svg

If legend_label is any single string other than ‘automatic’, then it is repeated for all members of \(X\):

sage: plot([sin(x), tan(x)], color='blue', legend_label='trig')
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-78.svg

Note that the independent variable may be omitted if there is no ambiguity:

sage: plot(sin(1.0/x), (-1, 1))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-79.svg

Plotting in logarithmic scale is possible for 2D plots. There are two different syntaxes supported:

sage: plot(exp, (1, 10), scale='semilogy') # log axis on vertical
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-80.svg
sage: plot_semilogy(exp, (1, 10)) # same thing
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-81.svg
sage: plot_loglog(exp, (1, 10))   # both axes are log
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-82.svg
sage: plot(exp, (1, 10), scale='loglog', base=2) # long time # base of log is 2
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-83.svg

We can also change the scale of the axes in the graphics just before displaying:

sage: G = plot(exp, 1, 10) # long time
sage: G.show(scale=('semilogy', 2)) # long time

The algorithm used to insert extra points is actually pretty simple. On the picture drawn by the lines below:

sage: p = plot(x^2, (-0.5, 1.4)) + line([(0,0), (1,1)], color='green')
sage: p += line([(0.5, 0.5), (0.5, 0.5^2)], color='purple')
sage: p += point(((0, 0), (0.5, 0.5), (0.5, 0.5^2), (1, 1)), color='red', pointsize=20)
sage: p += text('A', (-0.05, 0.1), color='red')
sage: p += text('B', (1.01, 1.1), color='red')
sage: p += text('C', (0.48, 0.57), color='red')
sage: p += text('D', (0.53, 0.18), color='red')
sage: p.show(axes=False, xmin=-0.5, xmax=1.4, ymin=0, ymax=2)
../../_images/plot-84.svg

You have the function (in blue) and its approximation (in green) passing through the points A and B. The algorithm finds the midpoint C of AB and computes the distance between C and D. If that distance exceeds the adaptive_tolerance threshold (relative to the size of the initial plot subintervals), the point D is added to the curve. If D is added to the curve, then the algorithm is applied recursively to the points A and D, and D and B. It is repeated adaptive_recursion times (5, by default).

The actual sample points are slightly randomized, so the above plots may look slightly different each time you draw them.

We draw the graph of an elliptic curve as the union of graphs of 2 functions.

sage: def h1(x): return abs(sqrt(x^3  - 1))
sage: def h2(x): return -abs(sqrt(x^3  - 1))
sage: P = plot([h1, h2], 1,4)
sage: P          # show the result
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-85.svg

It is important to mention that when we draw several graphs at the same time, parameters xmin, xmax, ymin and ymax are just passed directly to the show procedure. In fact, these parameters would be overwritten:

sage: p=plot(x^3, x, xmin=-1, xmax=1,ymin=-1, ymax=1)
sage: q=plot(exp(x), x, xmin=-2, xmax=2, ymin=0, ymax=4)
sage: (p+q).show()

As a workaround, we can perform the trick:

sage: p1 = line([(a,b) for a,b in zip(p[0].xdata,p[0].ydata) if (b>=-1 and b<=1)])
sage: q1 = line([(a,b) for a,b in zip(q[0].xdata,q[0].ydata) if (b>=0 and b<=4)])
sage: (p1+q1).show()

We can also directly plot the elliptic curve:

sage: E = EllipticCurve([0,-1])
sage: plot(E, (1, 4), color=hue(0.6))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-86.svg

We can change the line style as well:

sage: plot(sin(x), (x, 0, 10), linestyle='-.')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-87.svg

If we have an empty linestyle and specify a marker, we can see the points that are actually being plotted:

sage: plot(sin(x), (x,0,10), plot_points=20, linestyle='', marker='.')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-88.svg

The marker can be a TeX symbol as well:

sage: plot(sin(x), (x,0,10), plot_points=20, linestyle='', marker=r'$\checkmark$')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-89.svg

Sage currently ignores points that cannot be evaluated

sage: set_verbose(-1)
sage: plot(-x*log(x), (x,0,1))  # this works fine since the failed endpoint is just skipped.
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage: set_verbose(0)

This prints out a warning and plots where it can (we turn off the warning by setting the verbose mode temporarily to -1.)

sage: set_verbose(-1)
sage: plot(x^(1/3), (x,-1,1))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage: set_verbose(0)
../../_images/plot-90.svg

Plotting the real cube root function for negative input requires avoiding the complex numbers one would usually get. The easiest way is to use absolute value:

sage: plot(sign(x)*abs(x)^(1/3), (x,-1,1))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-91.svg

We can also use the following:

sage: plot(sign(x)*(x*sign(x))^(1/3), (x,-4,4))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-92.svg

A way that points to how to plot other functions without symbolic variants is using lambda functions:

sage: plot(lambda x : RR(x).nth_root(3), (x,-1, 1))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-93.svg

We can detect the poles of a function:

sage: plot(gamma, (-3, 4), detect_poles=True).show(ymin=-5, ymax=5)
../../_images/plot-94.svg

We draw the Gamma-Function with its poles highlighted:

sage: plot(gamma, (-3, 4), detect_poles='show').show(ymin=-5, ymax=5)
../../_images/plot-95.svg

The basic options for filling a plot:

sage: p1 = plot(sin(x), -pi, pi, fill='axis')
sage: p2 = plot(sin(x), -pi, pi, fill='min', fillalpha=1)
sage: p3 = plot(sin(x), -pi, pi, fill='max')
sage: p4 = plot(sin(x), -pi, pi, fill=(1-x)/3, fillcolor='blue', fillalpha=.2)
sage: graphics_array([[p1, p2], [p3, p4]]).show(frame=True, axes=False) # long time
../../_images/plot-96.svg

The basic options for filling a list of plots:

sage: (f1, f2) = x*exp(-1*x^2)/.35, x*exp(-2*x^2)/.35
sage: p1 = plot([f1, f2], -pi, pi, fill={1: [0]}, fillcolor='blue', fillalpha=.25, color='blue')
sage: p2 = plot([f1, f2], -pi, pi, fill={0: x/3, 1:[0]}, color=['blue'])
sage: p3 = plot([f1, f2], -pi, pi, fill=[0, [0]], fillcolor=['orange','red'], fillalpha=1, color={1: 'blue'})
sage: p4 = plot([f1, f2], (x,-pi, pi), fill=[x/3, 0], fillcolor=['grey'], color=['red', 'blue'])
sage: graphics_array([[p1, p2], [p3, p4]]).show(frame=True, axes=False) # long time
../../_images/plot-97.svg

A example about the growth of prime numbers:

sage: plot(1.13*log(x), 1, 100, fill=lambda x: nth_prime(x)/floor(x), fillcolor='red')
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-98.svg

Fill the area between a function and its asymptote:

sage: f = (2*x^3+2*x-1)/((x-2)*(x+1))
sage: plot([f, 2*x+2], -7,7, fill={0: [1]}, fillcolor='#ccc').show(ymin=-20, ymax=20)
../../_images/plot-99.svg

Fill the area between a list of functions and the x-axis:

sage: def b(n): return lambda x: bessel_J(n, x)
sage: plot([b(n) for n in [1..5]], 0, 20, fill='axis')
Graphics object consisting of 10 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-100.svg

Note that to fill between the ith and jth functions, you must use the dictionary key-value syntax i:[j]; using key-value pairs like i:j will fill between the ith function and the line y=j:

sage: def b(n): return lambda x: bessel_J(n, x) + 0.5*(n-1)
sage: plot([b(c) for c in [1..5]], 0, 20, fill={i:[i-1] for i in [1..4]}, color={i:'blue' for i in [1..5]}, aspect_ratio=3, ymax=3)
Graphics object consisting of 9 graphics primitives
sage: plot([b(c) for c in [1..5]], 0, 20, fill={i:i-1 for i in [1..4]}, color='blue', aspect_ratio=3) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 9 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-101.svg

Extra options will get passed on to show(), as long as they are valid:

sage: plot(sin(x^2), (x, -3, 3), title=r'Plot of $\sin(x^2)$', axes_labels=['$x$','$y$']) # These labels will be nicely typeset
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-102.svg
sage: plot(sin(x^2), (x, -3, 3), title='Plot of sin(x^2)', axes_labels=['x','y']) # These will not
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-103.svg
sage: plot(sin(x^2), (x, -3, 3), axes_labels=['x','y'], axes_labels_size=2.5) # Large axes labels (w.r.t. the tick marks)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-104.svg
sage: plot(sin(x^2), (x, -3, 3), figsize=[8,2])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
sage: plot(sin(x^2), (x, -3, 3)).show(figsize=[8,2]) # These are equivalent
../../_images/plot-105.svg

This includes options for custom ticks and formatting. See documentation for show() for more details.

sage: plot(sin(pi*x), (x, -8, 8), ticks=[[-7,-3,0,3,7],[-1/2,0,1/2]])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-106.svg
sage: plot(2*x+1,(x,0,5),ticks=[[0,1,e,pi,sqrt(20)],2],tick_formatter="latex")
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-107.svg

This is particularly useful when setting custom ticks in multiples of \(pi\).

sage: plot(sin(x),(x,0,2*pi),ticks=pi/3,tick_formatter=pi)
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-108.svg

You can even have custom tick labels along with custom positioning.

sage: plot(x**2, (x,0,3), ticks=[[1,2.5],[0.5,1,2]], tick_formatter=[["$x_1$","$x_2$"],["$y_1$","$y_2$","$y_3$"]])
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-109.svg

You can force Type 1 fonts in your figures by providing the relevant option as shown below. This also requires that LaTeX, dvipng and Ghostscript be installed:

sage: plot(x, typeset='type1') # optional - latex
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive

A example with excluded values:

sage: plot(floor(x), (x, 1, 10), exclude=[1..10])
Graphics object consisting of 11 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-110.svg

We exclude all points where PrimePi makes a jump:

sage: jumps = [n for n in [1..100] if prime_pi(n) != prime_pi(n-1)]
sage: plot(lambda x: prime_pi(x), (x, 1, 100), exclude=jumps)
Graphics object consisting of 26 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-111.svg

Excluded points can also be given by an equation:

sage: g(x) = x^2-2*x-2
sage: plot(1/g(x), (x, -3, 4), exclude=g(x)==0, ymin=-5, ymax=5) # long time
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-112.svg

exclude and detect_poles can be used together:

sage: f(x) = (floor(x)+0.5) / (1-(x-0.5)^2)
sage: plot(f, (x, -3.5, 3.5), detect_poles='show', exclude=[-3..3], ymin=-5, ymax=5)
Graphics object consisting of 12 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-113.svg

Regions in which the plot has no values are automatically excluded. The regions thus excluded are in addition to the exclusion points present in the exclude keyword argument.:

sage: set_verbose(-1)
sage: plot(arcsec, (x, -2, 2))  # [-1, 1] is excluded automatically
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-114.svg
sage: plot(arcsec, (x, -2, 2), exclude=[1.5])  # x=1.5 is also excluded
Graphics object consisting of 3 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-115.svg
sage: plot(arcsec(x/2), -2, 2)  # plot should be empty; no valid points
Graphics object consisting of 0 graphics primitives
sage: plot(sqrt(x^2-1), -2, 2)  # [-1, 1] is excluded automatically
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-116.svg
sage: plot(arccsc, -2, 2)       # [-1, 1] is excluded automatically
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
sage: set_verbose(0)
../../_images/plot-117.svg
sage.plot.plot.plot_loglog(funcs, base=10, *args, **kwds)

Plot graphics in ‘loglog’ scale, that is, both the horizontal and the vertical axes will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1. The base can be also given as a list or tuple (basex, basey). basex sets the base of the logarithm along the horizontal axis and basey sets the base along the vertical axis.
  • funcs – any Sage object which is acceptable to the plot().

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: plot_loglog(exp, (1,10)) # plot in loglog scale with base 10
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-118.svg
sage: plot_loglog(exp, (1,10), base=2.1) # long time # with base 2.1 on both axes
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-119.svg
sage: plot_loglog(exp, (1,10), base=(2,3))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-120.svg
sage.plot.plot.plot_semilogx(funcs, base=10, *args, **kwds)

Plot graphics in ‘semilogx’ scale, that is, the horizontal axis will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1.
  • funcs – any Sage object which is acceptable to the plot().

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: plot_semilogx(exp, (1,10)) # long time # plot in semilogx scale, base 10
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-121.svg
sage: plot_semilogx(exp, (1,10), base=2) # with base 2
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-122.svg
sage.plot.plot.plot_semilogy(funcs, base=10, *args, **kwds)

Plot graphics in ‘semilogy’ scale, that is, the vertical axis will be in logarithmic scale.

INPUT:

  • base – (default: 10) the base of the logarithm. This must be greater than 1.
  • funcs – any Sage object which is acceptable to the plot().

For all other inputs, look at the documentation of plot().

EXAMPLES:

sage: plot_semilogy(exp, (1,10)) # long time # plot in semilogy scale, base 10
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-123.svg
sage: plot_semilogy(exp, (1,10), base=2) # long time # with base 2
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-124.svg
sage.plot.plot.polar_plot(funcs, aspect_ratio=1.0, *args, **kwds)

polar_plot takes a single function or a list or tuple of functions and plots them with polar coordinates in the given domain.

This function is equivalent to the plot() command with the options polar=True and aspect_ratio=1. For more help on options, see the documentation for plot().

INPUT:

  • funcs - a function
  • other options are passed to plot

EXAMPLES:

Here is a blue 8-leaved petal:

sage: polar_plot(sin(5*x)^2, (x, 0, 2*pi), color='blue')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-125.svg

A red figure-8:

sage: polar_plot(abs(sqrt(1 - sin(x)^2)), (x, 0, 2*pi), color='red')
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-126.svg

A green limacon of Pascal:

sage: polar_plot(2 + 2*cos(x), (x, 0, 2*pi), color=hue(0.3))
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../_images/plot-127.svg

Several polar plots:

sage: polar_plot([2*sin(x), 2*cos(x)], (x, 0, 2*pi))
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-128.svg

A filled spiral:

sage: polar_plot(sqrt, 0, 2 * pi, fill=True)
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-129.svg

Fill the area between two functions:

sage: polar_plot(cos(4*x) + 1.5, 0, 2*pi, fill=0.5 * cos(4*x) + 2.5, fillcolor='orange')
Graphics object consisting of 2 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-130.svg

Fill the area between several spirals:

sage: polar_plot([(1.2+k*0.2)*log(x) for k in range(6)], 1, 3 * pi, fill={0: [1], 2: [3], 4: [5]})
Graphics object consisting of 9 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-131.svg

Exclude points at discontinuities:

sage: polar_plot(log(floor(x)), (x, 1, 4*pi), exclude=[1..12])
Graphics object consisting of 12 graphics primitives
../../_images/plot-132.svg
sage.plot.plot.reshape(v, n, m)

Helper function for creating graphics arrays.

The input array is flattened and turned into an \(n imes m\) array, with blank graphics object padded at the end, if necessary.

INPUT:

  • v - a list of lists or tuples
  • n, m - integers

OUTPUT:

A list of lists of graphics objects

EXAMPLES:

sage: L = [plot(sin(k*x),(x,-pi,pi)) for k in range(10)]
sage: graphics_array(L,3,4)  # long time (up to 4s on sage.math, 2012)
Graphics Array of size 3 x 4

sage: M = [[plot(sin(k*x),(x,-pi,pi)) for k in range(3)],[plot(cos(j*x),(x,-pi,pi)) for j in [3..5]]]
sage: graphics_array(M,6,1)  # long time (up to 4s on sage.math, 2012)
Graphics Array of size 6 x 1
sage.plot.plot.to_float_list(v)

Given a list or tuple or iterable v, coerce each element of v to a float and make a list out of the result.

EXAMPLES:

sage: from sage.plot.plot import to_float_list
sage: to_float_list([1,1/2,3])
[1.0, 0.5, 3.0]
sage.plot.plot.xydata_from_point_list(points)

Returns two lists (xdata, ydata), each coerced to a list of floats, which correspond to the x-coordinates and the y-coordinates of the points.

The points parameter can be a list of 2-tuples or some object that yields a list of one or two numbers.

This function can potentially be very slow for large point sets.