Matplotlib: Introduction to Visualization

in Python
What is Matplotlib?

• Definition: Matplotlib is a low-level graph plotting library in Python designed for

creating static, interactive, and animated visualizations. It serves as a powerful utility for
data visualization in Python programming.
• Purpose: To create professional-grade visualizations for data analysis and reporting.

History of Matplotlib

• Created by: John D. Hunter

• Developed: 2002
• Initial Release: 2003

Matplotlib was inspired by MATLAB's plotting capabilities and has since become the backbone
of visualization in Python, with various high-level libraries like Seaborn built on top of it.

Installing Matplotlib on Windows

1. Open Command Prompt: Ensure you have administrative privileges to install Python
packages.
2. Set up User Account: Confirm that Python and pip are installed and added to the system
PATH.
3. Run the Installation Command:

py -m pip install matplotlib

4. Verify Installation: After installation, verify by importing the library in Python:

import matplotlib
print(matplotlib.__version__)

Ensure that your system is connected to the internet while running the pip command.

Using Matplotlib

pg. 1
 1. Importing Matplotlib:
o Import the core library:

import matplotlib

o Import the commonly used pyplot submodule, typically aliased as plt:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

2. Check the Version: To confirm which version of Matplotlib is installed, use the
following:

import matplotlib as mt
print(mt.__version__)

Key Features of Matplotlib

• Pyplot Submodule: Most of the utility functions for creating visualizations lie in
matplotlib.pyplot, which simplifies plotting through concise function calls.
• Customization: Offers extensive control over every element of a figure, including colors,
markers, line styles, and labels.
• Integration: Seamlessly integrates with NumPy, pandas, and Jupyter Notebooks for
streamlined workflows.
• Types of Visualizations:
o Line charts
o Bar charts
o Histograms
o Scatter plots
o Pie charts
o Box plots
o Heatmaps, and more.

Basic Example: Plotting a Simple Graph

Here’s a quick demonstration of creating a basic line plot:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Define data
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

# Create plot
plt.plot(x, y, label='Linear Growth', color='blue', marker='o')

pg. 2
# Add labels and title
plt.xlabel('X-axis')
plt.ylabel('Y-axis')
plt.title('Basic Line Plot')

# Add legend
plt.legend()

# Display the plot

plt.show()

Why Use Matplotlib?

1. Flexibility: Provides low-level control over visual elements for advanced customizations.
2. Wide Range of Plots: Supports nearly every type of data visualization.
3. Extensibility: Works well with high-level libraries like Seaborn for enhanced aesthetics.
4. Community Support: Extensive documentation and a vibrant community for
troubleshooting.

Hands-on Practice Ideas

• Plot data from a CSV file using pandas and Matplotlib.

• Experiment with different plot types (e.g., scatter, bar, and pie charts).
• Customize plot elements, including grid lines, ticks, and legends.
• Use Matplotlib in Jupyter Notebooks for interactive visualizations.

Plotting x and y Points in Matplotlib

The plot() function in Matplotlib is a versatile tool for drawing points (markers) and lines on a
2D diagram. By default, it connects points with a line, making it suitable for creating line charts,
trends, or simple graphs.

Key Concepts:

1. Function Overview:
o plot(x, y): Plots a line or points connecting the x and y coordinates.
o Parameters:
▪ x: An array-like structure (list, tuple, or NumPy array) that contains the
values for the x-axis (horizontal).
▪ y: An array-like structure for the y-axis (vertical).

pg. 3
 o If y is omitted, the function assumes values starting from 0 for the x-axis and
takes x as the y-values.

Plotting Points:

The plot() function can be used to draw specific points on a diagram. By default:

• It draws a line connecting consecutive points.

• Markers can be added to highlight the individual points explicitly.

Example: Plot Points

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Define x and y coordinates

x = [0, 2, 4, 6]
y = [0, 50, 150, 250]

# Plot the points

plt.plot(x, y)

# Add title and labels

plt.title("Plotting x and y Points")
plt.xlabel("X-axis")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis")

# Show the graph

plt.show()

Drawing a Line Between Points:

When a continuous line is needed to connect the points, the plot() function handles it by
default.

Example: Draw a Line Draw a line connecting points (0,0) to (6,250):

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Data points
x = [0, 6]
y = [0, 250]

# Plot the line

plt.plot(x, y)

# Label the graph

plt.title("Drawing a Line")

pg. 4
 plt.xlabel("X-axis")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis")

# Display the plot

plt.show()

Customizing the Line and Markers

Matplotlib allows you to customize the appearance of the line and markers:

• Line Style: '-' (solid), '--' (dashed), ':' (dotted), etc.

• Marker Style: 'o', '^', 's', etc., to represent points.
• Color: Specify the line color using predefined color codes (e.g., 'b' for blue, 'r' for
red).

Example: Customize Line and Markers

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Define points
x = [0, 2, 4, 6]
y = [0, 50, 150, 250]

# Customize the plot

plt.plot(x, y, linestyle='--', marker='o', color='r')

# Add labels and title

plt.title("Customized Line Plot")
plt.xlabel("X-axis")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis")

# Display the plot

plt.show()

Adding Grid Lines for Better Readability

Grid lines enhance readability by making it easier to interpret data points.

Example: Enable Grid

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Data points
x = [0, 2, 4, 6]
y = [0, 50, 150, 250]

# Plot with grid

plt.plot(x, y, marker='o')
plt.grid()

pg. 5
# Add title and labels
plt.title("Line Plot with Grid")
plt.xlabel("X-axis")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis")

# Show plot
plt.show()

Combining Multiple Lines

You can plot multiple lines on the same graph by calling plot() multiple times or passing
additional x, y pairs.

Example: Plot Multiple Lines

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Line 1 data
x1 = [0, 2, 4, 6]
y1 = [0, 50, 150, 250]

# Line 2 data
x2 = [0, 2, 4, 6]
y2 = [0, 30, 90, 180]

# Plot the first line

plt.plot(x1, y1, label='Line 1', color='b', marker='o')

# Plot the second line

plt.plot(x2, y2, label='Line 2', color='g', linestyle='--')

# Add title, labels, legend, and grid

plt.title("Multiple Lines on One Graph")
plt.xlabel("X-axis")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis")
plt.legend()
plt.grid()

# Show the plot

plt.show()

Tips for Beginners:

1. Always label your axes and give a title for clarity.

2. Use markers to differentiate between closely packed points.
3. Add a legend when plotting multiple lines to distinguish datasets.
4. Experiment with colors, line styles, and marker styles to improve aesthetics.

pg. 6
Hands-on Exercises:

1. Plot a line connecting (0,0), (3,100), and (6,200) with square markers and a dashed line.
2. Add a grid to the graph and customize its color and style.
3. Create a graph with two intersecting lines and add a legend to identify them.

Plotting Without Lines

To plot only markers without connecting them with lines, use the format string parameter 'o',
which represents circular markers.

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

x = np.array([0, 6])
y = np.array([0, 250])

plt.plot(x, y, 'o')
plt.show()

Explanation:

• plt.plot(x, y, 'o'): Plots the points (0, 0) and (6, 250) with circular markers.

Plotting Multiple Points

To plot multiple points, pass arrays of x and y values.

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

x = np.array([1, 2, 6, 8])
y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.show()

Explanation:

• This will connect the points (1, 3), (2, 8), (6, 1), and (8, 10) with a line.

pg. 7
Default X-Axis

If no x values are specified, Matplotlib automatically uses the indices of the y array as the x
values.

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10, 5, 7])

plt.plot(y)
plt.show()

Explanation:

• The indices [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] are used as the x values.

Matplotlib Markers

Markers are used to emphasize points in a plot. You can specify markers using the marker
keyword argument.

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])

plt.plot(y, marker='o')
plt.show()

Common Marker Symbols:

Marker Description

'o' Circle

'*' Star

'.' Point

'x' X (thin)

pg. 8
'X' X (filled)

's' Square

'D' Diamond

Format Strings (fmt)

The fmt parameter allows you to define the marker, line style, and color in a single string.

Syntax:
marker | line | color

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])

plt.plot(y, 'o:r')
plt.show()

Explanation:

• 'o': Circular markers.

• ':': Dotted line.
• 'r': Red color.

Line Styles

You can customize the appearance of lines using the following styles:

Line Syntax Description

'-' Solid Line

':' Dotted Line

'--' Dashed Line

'-. ' Dash-Dot Line

pg. 9
Color Options

Specify the line color using the following single-character codes:

Color Syntax Description

'r' Red

'g' Green

'b' Blue

'c' Cyan

'm' Magenta

'y' Yellow

'k' Black

'w' White

Marker Size

To adjust the size of markers, use the markersize or ms argument.

Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])

plt.plot(y, marker='o', ms=20)

plt.show()

Explanation:

• ms=20: Sets the marker size to 20.

Adding Labels and Titles

Labels for Axes:

pg. 10
Use xlabel() and ylabel() to label axes.

x = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
y = np.array([0, 8, 12, 20, 26, 38])

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xlabel("Overs")
plt.ylabel("Runs")
plt.show()

Title:

Add a title to the plot with title().

plt.title("Sport Data")

Font Customization:

Customize fonts with fontdict.

font1 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'blue', 'size': 20}

font2 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'darkred', 'size': 15}

plt.xlabel("Overs", fontdict=font2)
plt.ylabel("Runs", fontdict=font2)
plt.title("Sport Data", fontdict=font1)
plt.show()

Combining Multiple Lines

To plot multiple datasets, provide additional arrays.

x1 = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3])
y1 = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])

x2 = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3])
y2 = np.array([6, 2, 7, 11])

plt.plot(x1, y1, x2, y2)

plt.show()

Marker Customization

Markers Face Size

• Keyword Argument: markerfacecolor (short form mfc) controls the color of the marker face.
• Example:

pg. 11
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])
plt.plot(y, marker='o', ms=20, mfc='r')
plt.show()

Linestyle Argument

• Use the linestyle (or ls) argument to change the line style.
• Available Styles:
o '-' (solid)
o '--' (dashed)
o '-.' (dashdot)
o ':' (dotted)
• Example:

plt.plot(y, linestyle='dotted')

Line Customization

Line Color

• Use the color (or c) argument to set the line's color.

plt.plot(y, color='pink')

Line Width

• Use the linewidth (or lw) argument to adjust line thickness.

plt.plot(y, linewidth=5)

Labels and Title

Adding Axis Labels

• Use xlabel() and ylabel() to name axes.

plt.xlabel("X-axis label")
plt.ylabel("Y-axis label")

Adding a Title

• Use title() to add a title to the plot.

pg. 12
 plt.title("Plot Title")

Positioning the Title

• The loc argument in title() positions the title (left, right, center).

Font Customization

• Use fontdict in xlabel(), ylabel(), and title() to set font properties like size, color,
and family.

font1 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'blue', 'size': 20}

font2 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'darkred', 'size': 15}
plt.xlabel("X-axis", fontdict=font1)
plt.ylabel("Y-axis", fontdict=font2)
plt.title("Title", fontdict=font1)

Grid Lines

• Add grid lines using the grid() function.

plt.grid()

Multiple Plots

Subplots

• Use subplot() to create multiple plots in one figure.

• Syntax: subplot(nrows, ncols, index)

plt.subplot(1, 2, 1)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.subplot(1, 2, 2)
plt.plot(x, z)

Super Title

• Add a global title using suptitle().

plt.suptitle("Overall Title")

Scatter Plots

• Use scatter() for scatter plots.

pg. 13
 • Basic Example:

plt.scatter(x, y)

Customizing Scatter Plots

• Set Color: Use the color argument.

plt.scatter(x, y, color='red')

• Color Each Dot: Pass a list of colors for each point.

colors = ['red', 'blue', 'green']

plt.scatter(x, y, color=colors)

Setting Font Properties for Title and Labels

You can customize font properties for plot titles and axis labels using the fontdict parameter in
xlabel(), ylabel(), and title().

Example Code:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import numpy as np

x = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
y = np.array([0, 8, 12, 20, 26, 38])

font1 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'blue', 'size': 20}

font2 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'darkred', 'size': 15}

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xlabel('Overs', fontdict=font2)
plt.ylabel('Runs', fontdict=font2)
plt.title('Sport Data', fontdict=font1)
plt.show()

Output:

The title and labels will be styled as specified by font1 and font2.

Positioning the Title

The title's position can be adjusted using the loc parameter in the title() method. Legal values
are 'left', 'right', and 'center' (default).

Example Code:

pg. 14
plt.title('Sport Data', loc='left')

Adding Grid Lines to a Plot

Grid lines enhance readability and can be added using the grid() function.

Example Code:

plt.grid()

Displaying Multiple Plots

Using subplot()

The subplot() function allows you to display multiple plots in a single figure.

• Syntax: plt.subplot(rows, columns, index)

Example Code:

# Plot 1
x1 = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3])
y1 = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])
plt.subplot(2, 1, 1)
plt.plot(x1, y1)

# Plot 2
x2 = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3])
y2 = np.array([10, 20, 30, 40])
plt.subplot(2, 1, 2)
plt.plot(x2, y2)

plt.show()

Adding a Super Title:

Use suptitle() to add a title to the entire figure.

plt.suptitle('My Data')

Creating Scatter Plots

Basic Scatter Plot:

plt.scatter(x, y)

pg. 15
Customizing Colors and Sizes:

• Use the color parameter to set point colors.

• Use the s parameter to adjust point sizes.

Example Code:

mycolor = ['red', 'green', 'purple', 'lime', 'aqua', 'yellow']

size = [10, 60, 120, 80, 20, 190]
plt.scatter(x, y, color=mycolor, s=size)

Adjusting Transparency:

Use the alpha parameter to set transparency.

plt.scatter(x, y, alpha=0.5)

Bar Plots

Vertical Bar Graph:

x = np.array(['A', 'B', 'C', 'D'])

y = np.array([3, 8, 1, 10])
plt.bar(x, y)

Horizontal Bar Graph:

plt.barh(x, y)

Adjusting Bar Width:

plt.bar(x, y, width=0.5)

Histograms

Histograms visualize frequency distributions. Use the hist() function.

Example Code:

x = np.random.normal(170, 10, 250)

plt.hist(x)

Pie Charts

Basic Pie Chart:

pg. 16
x = np.array([35, 25, 25, 15])
plt.pie(x)

Adding Labels:

labels = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']

plt.pie(x, labels=labels)

Customizing Start Angle:

plt.pie(x, startangle=90)

Setting Font Properties for Title and Labels

You can use the fontdict parameter in xlabel(), ylabel(), and title() to customize font
properties for the title and labels.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import numpy as np

x = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
y = np.array([0, 8, 12, 20, 26, 38])

font1 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'blue', 'size': 20}

font2 = {'family': 'serif', 'color': 'darkred', 'size': 15}

plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xlabel("Overs", fontdict=font2)
plt.ylabel("Runs", fontdict=font2)
plt.title("Sport Data", fontdict=font1)
plt.show()

Positioning the Title

The loc parameter in title() can position the title. Legal values: 'left', 'right', 'center'.

plt.title("Sport Data", loc='left')

Adding Grid Lines

The grid() function adds grid lines to the plot.

plt.grid()

Displaying Multiple Plots

pg. 17
The subplot() function allows multiple plots in one figure. It takes three arguments: rows,
columns, and index of the plot.

Example 1: Side-by-Side Plots

plt.subplot(1, 2, 1)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.subplot(1, 2, 2)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.show()

Example 2: Stacked Plots

plt.subplot(2, 1, 1)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.subplot(2, 1, 2)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.show()

Scatter Plots

The scatter() function creates scatter plots.

Basic Scatter Plot

plt.scatter(x, y)
plt.show()

Compare Two Scatter Plots

plt.scatter(x1, y1, color='red')

plt.scatter(x2, y2, color='green')
plt.show()

Customizing Scatter Plots

• Colors: Use the color parameter with a list.

• Sizes: Use the s parameter with a list of sizes.
• Transparency: Use the alpha parameter for transparency.

colors = ['red', 'green', 'blue']

sizes = [20, 50, 80]
plt.scatter(x, y, color=colors, s=sizes, alpha=0.5)
plt.show()

Bar Graphs

pg. 18
Vertical Bars

plt.bar(x, y)
plt.show()

Horizontal Bars

plt.barh(x, y)
plt.show()

Adjusting Bar Width

plt.barh(x, y, width=0.5)
plt.show()

Histograms

Histograms show frequency distributions.

x = np.random.normal(170, 10, 250)

plt.hist(x)
plt.show()

Pie Charts

Basic Pie Chart

x = np.array([35, 25, 25, 15])

plt.pie(x)
plt.show()

Adding Labels

labels = ["Apples", "Bananas", "Cherries", "Dates"]

plt.pie(x, labels=labels)
plt.show()

Customizing Start Angle

plt.pie(x, labels=labels, startangle=90)

plt.show()

Exploding a Wedge

explode = [0.2, 0, 0, 0]
plt.pie(x, labels=labels, explode=explode)
plt.show()

pg. 19
Adding Shadows

plt.pie(x, labels=labels, explode=explode, shadow=True)

plt.show()

Custom Wedge Colors

colors = ["black", "hotpink", "b", "#4CAF50"]

plt.pie(x, labels=labels, colors=colors)
plt.show()

Adding a Legend

plt.legend(title="Four Fruits:")
plt.show()

pg. 20