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Using plot with Coordinate Vectors

1. Concept of Plotting in R:

o The screen is treated as a blank, two-dimensional canvas for

plotting.

o Points and lines are plotted using x- and y-coordinates.

2. Coordinate Representation:

o Coordinates are typically written as pairs (x value, y value) on

paper.

o In R, the plot function requires two vectors:

 A vector for x-coordinates.

 A vector for y-coordinates.

3. Functionality of plot in R:

o The plot() function opens a graphics device and displays the plot.

o If a graphics device is already open, R refreshes the device and

overwrites the existing plot with the new one.

4. Example Coordinates:
To plot the points (1.1, 2), (2, 2.2), (3.5, −1.3), (3.9, 0), and (4.2, 0.2):

o Define the x-coordinates: foo <- c(1.1, 2, 3.5, 3.9, 4.2)

o Define the y-coordinates: bar <- c(2, 2.2, -1.3, 0, 0.2)

5. Plotting Example in R:

foo <- c(1.1, 2, 3.5, 3.9, 4.2)

bar <- c(2, 2.2, -1.3, 0, 0.2)

plot(foo, bar)

6. Key Points About plot Behavior:

o X-locations (foo) are provided as the first argument.

o Y-locations (bar) are provided as the second argument.

o The plot shows the specified points on the graphics device.

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 Matrix as Input for plot:

 In R, x and y coordinates can also be provided in a matrix or list

format instead of separate vectors.

 The matrix should have x values in the first column and y values in the
second column.

 Creating a Matrix Example:

 Using cbind(), you can combine foo (x values) and bar (y values) into a
matrix.

 Example:

baz <- cbind(foo, bar)

print(baz)

This produces:

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csharp

foo bar

[1,] 1.1 2.0

[2,] 2.0 2.2

[3,] 3.5 -1.3

[4,] 3.9 0.0

[5,] 4.2 0.2

 Plotting Using a Matrix:

 The plot() function can directly take this matrix as input to create the
scatterplot.

 Example:

plot(baz)

 Versatility of plot Function:

 plot() is a generic function in R, meaning its behavior changes based

on the object type.

 For scatterplots, the version used is plot.default. This is the default

method for plotting.

Graphical Parameters in R

1. Purpose of Graphical Parameters:

o Enhance visuals and customize technical aspects of plots.

o Used as arguments in plot and other plotting functions.

2. Common Graphical Parameters:

o type: Defines how points are plotted (e.g., as dots, lines, or

both).

o main, xlab, ylab: Add a title and labels for the x-axis and y-axis.

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o col: Specifies the color(s) of points and lines.

o pch: Chooses the character or symbol for plotting points.

o cex: Controls the size of the points or characters.

o lty: Sets the line type (e.g., solid, dashed, or dotted).

o lwd: Adjusts the line thickness.

o xlim, ylim: Define the horizontal and vertical range of the plot.

Automatic Plot Types in R

1. Default Plot Type:

o plot() generates a scatterplot with individual points by default.

2. Customizing Plot Types:

o Use the type argument to control how data is displayed.

 "p": Points (default).

 "l": Lines connecting points (useful for time series).

 "b": Both points and lines.

3. Example: Plot with Lines:

o Using foo (x-coordinates) and bar (y-coordinates) from earlier

examples:

plot(foo, bar, type = "l") # Plots lines connecting points

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Key Example

1. Plotting Individual Points:

plot(foo, bar) # Default: individual points

2. Connecting Points with Lines:

plot(foo, bar, type = "l") # Points connected by lines

3. Customizing Appearance:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", col = "blue", pch = 19, lty = 2, lwd = 2,

main = "Custom Plot", xlab = "X-Axis Label", ylab = "Y-Axis Label")

This creates a plot with:

o Blue points and lines.

o Solid circular points (pch = 19). pch in R is "point character"

o Dashed lines (lty = 2) with thickness 2 (lwd = 2).

Lty= "Line Type" 

o lty = 1: Solid line

o lty = 2: Dashed line
o lty = 3: Dotted line
o lty = 4: Dot-dash line

lwd= Line Width

o lwd = 1: Standard thickness

o lwd = 2: Thicker line
o lwd = 3: Even thicker line

o A title and axis labels.

Title and Axis Labels

1. Default Plot Titles and Axis Labels:

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o By default, a basic plot in R doesn't include a main title or axis

labels.

o The x-axis and y-axis are labeled with the names of the vectors
being plotted.

2. Adding a Title and Axis Labels:

o You can add a main title, x-axis label, and y-axis label by
providing text as character strings.

o Use the main, xlab, and ylab parameters for this purpose.

3. Escape Sequences in Labels:

o The labels can include escape sequences (e.g., \n for new

lines). This helps in formatting titles or axis labels for better
readability.

4. Example of Adding Titles and Labels:

o The following code adds a title and axis labels to a plot:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "x axis label", ylab
= "location y")

5. Using Escape Sequences for Multi-line Titles:

o You can use \n to split the title into multiple lines:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot\ntitle on two lines", xlab =
"", ylab = "")

6. Empty Axis Labels:

o In the second plot, xlab and ylab are set to an empty string ("")
to prevent R from labeling the axes with the names of the
vectors.

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Colors
 Importance of Color in Graphs:

 Color is not just for aesthetics; it can significantly improve data clarity.

 It helps in distinguishing between different levels of factors or

highlighting important data points.

 Setting Colors in R:

 The col parameter in the plot function is used to set the color of points
and lines.

 Colors can be specified in several ways:

o Integer Selector: Integer values corresponding to specific

colors.

o Character String: Using named colors (e.g., "red", "blue",

"seagreen4").

 Examples of Color Usage:

 Using an integer for color:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "", col =
2)

This plots the graph with the second color in R’s default color set (usually
red).

 Using a color name:

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plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "", col =
"seagreen4")

This plots the graph with the color "seagreen4".

 Available Colors:

 There are 8 integer values representing basic colors.

 R also recognizes around 650 color names that can be used directly
as character strings.

 Example of basic colors: 1 is black, 2 is red, 3 is green, etc.

 To view the available colors, use the command:

colors()

 Advanced Color Options:

 Beyond basic colors, you can define colors using RGB (Red, Green,
Blue) values or create custom color palettes.

Line and Point Appearances

 Altering the Appearance of Points and Lines:

 pch: Controls the character used to plot the points.

 lty: Alters the line type used in the plot.

 pch (Point Character):

 The pch parameter allows you to select a specific symbol for each
plotted point.

 You can specify a single character or a number between 1 and 25 to

select predefined symbols.

 Example:

o pch = 1: Circle

o pch = 2: Triangle

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o pch = 8: Star

 A reference plot showing all the point characters can be found in

Figure 7-5 (middle plot).

 lty (Line Type):

 The lty parameter controls the type of line used to connect the points.

 lty can take values from 1 to 6:

o lty = 1: Solid line

o lty = 2: Dashed line

o lty = 3: Dotted line

o Values from 1 to 6 represent different line styles, as shown in

Figure 7-5 (rightmost plot).

 cex (Character Expansion):

 The cex parameter controls the size of plotted points.

 Default value is 1, and it can be adjusted to resize the points.

o Example:

 cex = 0.5: Half-size points.

 cex = 2.3: Larger points.

 lwd (Line Width):

 The lwd parameter controls the thickness of the lines.

 The default value is 1, and it can be increased for thicker lines.

o Example:

 lwd = 2: Double-thick lines.

 lwd = 3.3: Thicker lines.

 Example of Plot Customization:

The following code creates plots with customized points and lines using pch,
lty, cex, and lwd:

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plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "",

col = 4, pch = 8, lty = 2, cex = 2.3, lwd = 3.3)

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "",

col = 6, pch = 15, lty = 3, cex = 0.7, lwd = 2)

 First plot:

o col = 4 (color: blue), pch = 8 (star symbol), lty = 2 (dashed line),

cex = 2.3 (larger points), lwd = 3.3 (thicker lines).

 Second plot:

o col = 6 (color: purple), pch = 15 (filled square), lty = 3 (dotted

line), cex = 0.7 (smaller points), lwd = 2 (double-thick lines).

Plotting Region Limits

 Default Plotting Region Limits:

 By default, R automatically sets the axis range based on the minimum

and maximum values of the supplied x and y data.

 It adds a small padding around the outermost data points to make the
plot easier to view.

 Customizing Plot Limits:

 xlim: Controls the horizontal axis (x-axis) limits.

 ylim: Controls the vertical axis (y-axis) limits.

 Both parameters accept a numeric vector of length 2: c(lower, upper),

where lower and upper specify the limits of the respective axis.

 Example 1: Expanding the Plotting Area:

 The first plot expands the plotting area to include additional space
around the data points:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "",

col = 4, pch = 8, lty = 2, cex = 2.3, lwd = 3.3, xlim = c(-10, 5), ylim = c(-
3, 3))

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This adds a larger plotting area to fit additional annotations or points outside
the range of the original data.

 Example 2: Restricting the Plotting Area:

 The second plot restricts the visible area, focusing only on a subset of
the data:

plot(foo, bar, type = "b", main = "My lovely plot", xlab = "", ylab = "",

col = 6, pch = 15, lty = 3, cex = 0.7, lwd = 2, xlim = c(3, 5), ylim = c(-
0.5, 0.2))

This zooms into a specific portion of the data by narrowing the x- and y-axis
limits.

 Effects of xlim and ylim:

 First Plot: The x-axis and y-axis limits are wider than the data, leaving
extra space around the points.

 Second Plot: Only a specific portion of the data is shown, as the plot's
range is constrained to a subset of the data values.

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