Introduction to Computing

Chapter 5

Plotting
 xy Plotting function
Plot, Label and Title Commands

plot (x,y)
 is used to plot a function y=f(x),
 plots the x values on the horizontal axis and the y values on
the vertical axis.
xlabel (‘text’) and ylabel (‘text’): put labels on horizontal and
vertical axis.
title (‘text’): puts a title at the top of the plot.
 xy Plotting function
Plot, Label and Title Commands

>> x=[0:0.1:52];

>> y=0.4.*sqrt(1.8.*x);

>> plot(x,y)

>> xlabel('Distance (miles)')

>> ylabel('Height (miles)')

>> title('Rocket height as a

function of Downrange Distance')

Practice: Draw y=sin(x) , z=2cos(x) and t=y+z with 0x1800

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grid and axis Commands

grid: displays gridlines at the tick marks corresponding to the

tick labels.
grid on: add gridlines
grid off: stop plotting gridlines
axis: override the Matlab selections for the axis limits.
axis ([xmin xmax ymin ymax]): sets the scaling for the x- and
y- axes to the minimum and maximum values indicated, not use
commas to separate the values.
Practice:
Given y=sin (x) , z=2cos(x) and t=y+z . Draw t using grid, axis.
(the limit on x and y are optional.)
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grid and axis Commands

The axis command has the following variants:

axis square: selects the axes’ limits so that the plot will be
square.
axis equal: selects the scale factors and tick spacing to be
the same on each axis. This makes plot(sin(x),cos(x)) look like
a circle, instead of an oval.
axis auto: returns the axis scaling to its default autoscaling
mode in which the best axes limits are computed
automatically.
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Plot, Label and Title Commands
>> x=[0:0.1:52];
>> y=0.4*sqrt(1.8*x); y1 = x;
>> plot(x,y), xlabel('Distance (miles)'), ylabel('Height (miles)'), title('Rocket height as
a function of Downrange Distance'), grid on, axis ([0 52 0 5])
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fplot

fplot(‘string’, [xmin xmax])

‘string’: a text string, describes the function to be plotted
[xmin xmax]: specifies the minimum and maximum values of
the independent variable.
The range of the dependent variable can also be specified:
fplot(‘string’, [xmin xmax ymin ymax])

[x,y]=fplot(‘string’, limits)
limits may be [xmin xmax] or [xmin xmax ymin ymax]
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fplot

>> f='cos(tan(x))-tan(sin(x))';
>> fplot(f,[1 2])

>> x=[1:0.01:2];

>> y=cos(tan(x))-tan(sin(x));

>> plot(x,y)
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Plotting Polynomials

polyval: plot polynomials. (Chapter 2)

Ex: 3 x 5  2 x 4  100 x 3  2 x 2  7 x  90 ,6  x  6

>> x=[-6:0.01:6];

>> p=[3,2,-100,2,-7,90];

>> plot(x,polyval(p,x)),xlabel('x'),ylabel('p')
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Practice

1. Plot the equation: y  0.4 1.8 x ,0  x  35 ,0  y  3.5

2. Use fplot command to investigate the function tan(cos(x))-

sin(tan(x)) for 0≤x≤2.

How many values of x are needed to obtain the same plot

using the plot command?
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SUBPLOTS

subplot : obtain several smaller “subplots” in the same figure.

Syntax: subplot(m,n,p)
Þdivides the Figure window into an array of rectangular panes
with m rows and n columns. The variable p tells Matlab to
place the output of the plot command following the subplot
command into the pth pane.
Ex: subplot(3,2,5) creates an array of six panes, three panes deep and
two panes across, and directs the next plot to appear
in the fifth pane (in the bottom-left corner).
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SUBPLOTS

Ex: Plot the function

y  e 1.2 x sin 10 x  5 for 0 x5 and y  x 3  100 for 6  x  6

>> x=[0:0.01:5];
>> y=exp(-1.2*x).*sin(10*x+5);
>> subplot(1,2,1)
>> plot(x,y),xlabel('x'),ylabel('y'),axis([0 5 -1 1])
>> x=[-6:0.01:6];
>> y=abs(x.^3-100);
>> subplot(1,2,2)
>> plot(x,y),xlabel('x'),ylabel('y'),axis([-6 6 0 350])
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Practice

Pick a suitable spacing for t and v, and use subplot command to

plot the function z and u defined as below. Label each axis.

z  e 0.5t cos20t  6  for 0t 8


u  6 log10 v 2  20  for 8  v  8
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OVERLAY PLOTS

Use the variants of the MATLAB basic plotting functions

plot(x,y) and plot(y) to create overlay plots.
plot(A): plots the colums of A versus their indices and
generates n curves where A is a matrix with m rows and n
columns.
plot(x,A): plots the matrix A versus the vector x, where x is
either a row vector or column vector and A is a matrix with m
rows and n columns.
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OVERLAY PLOTS

plot(A,x): plots the vector x versus the matrix A.

If the length of x is m  x is plotted versus the columns of A.

If the length of x is n  x is plotted versus the rows of A.

plot(A,B); plot the columns of the matrix B versus the columns

of the matrix A.
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Data Marked and Line Types

To plot the vector y versus the vector x and mark each point
with a data marker, enclose the symbol for the marker in single
quotes in the plot function.
Some specifiers for data markers, line types, and colors
Data markers Line types Colors
Dot (.) . Solid line - Black k
Asterisk (*) * Dashed line -- Blue b
Cross (x) x Dash-dotted line -. Cyan c
Circle (o) o Dotted line : Green g
Plus sign (+) + Magenta m
Square () s Red r
Diamond () d White w
Five-pointed star p Yellow y
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Data Marked and Line Types

Ex: >> x=[0:0.1:pi];

>> y=sin(x);
>> plot(x,y,'o')

>> x=[0:0.1:pi];
>> y=sin(x);
>> plot(x,y,x,y,'o')
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Data Marked and Line Types

Practice:
Using subplot command to plot the function
y= 2(x-1)Sinx + 3
in 6 small windows with 6 different formats in data
markers, line types and colors.
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LABELING CURVES AND DATA

When more than one curve or data set is plotted on a graph

 Distinguish between them by using different symbols or
different line types  provide a legend or place a label next to
each curve.
Þlegend command.
Ex: legend(‘string1’, ‘string2’)
string1 and string 2 are text strings of your choice.
legend command must be placed somewhere after the plot
command
Use the mouse t position the legend
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LABELING CURVES AND DATA

>> x=[0:0.01:2];
>> y=sinh(x);
>> z=tanh(x);
>> plot(x,y,x,z,'--'),xlabel ('x'),ylabel ('Hyperbolic Sine and
Tangent'),legend('sinh(x)','tanh(x)')
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Plotting Complex Data

Ex: Plot the real part and imaginary part of this function in one
figure:
y (t )  e 0.2t  Cos(t )  i Sin(t)  , 0  t  4
- Real part: red, solid line with * marker, linewidth = 1
- Imaginary part: green, dashed line with o marker, linewidth =
2
- Xlabel: t
- Ylabel: y(t)
- Title: Quiz 15/05/2021
- Legend: Real Part, Imaginary Part
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Plotting Complex Data

t = 0:pi/20:4*pi;
y=exp(-0.2*t).*(cos(t)+i*sin(t));
plot (t,y, ‘LineWidth’,2);
title(‘\bfPlot of complex function vs time’);
xlabel(‘\bf\itt’);
ylabel(‘\bf\ity(t)’);

Imaginary parts of complex X and/or Y

arguments ignored
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Plotting Complex Data
If both the real and imaginary parts of the function are of
interest  the user has several choices. Both parts can be
plotted as a function of time on the same axes.
t = 0:pi/20:4*pi;
y = exp(-0.2*t).*(cos(t)+i*sin(t));
plot(t,real(y), ‘b-’, ‘LineWidth’,2);
hold on;
plot(t,imag(y), ‘r--’, ‘LineWidth’,2);
title(‘\bfPlot of complex function vs
time’);
xlabel(‘\bf\itt’);
ylabel(‘\bf\ity(t)’);
legend(‘real’, ‘imaginary’);
hold off;
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Plotting Complex Data

The real part of the function can be plotted versus the

imaginary part. If a single complex argument is supplied
to the plot function, it automatically generates a plot of
the real part versus the imaginary part.

t = 0:pi/20:4*pi;
y = exp(-0.2*t).*(cos(t)+i*sin(t));
plot(y, ‘b-’, ‘LineWidth’,2);
title(‘\bfPlot of complex function’);
xlabel(‘\bfReal part’);
ylabel(‘\bfImaginary part’);
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Plotting Complex Data

The function can be plotted as a polar plot showing

Magnitude versus angle.

t = 0:pi/20:4*pi;

y = exp(-0.2*t).*(cos(t)

+i*sin(t));

polar(angle(y),abs(y));

title(‘\bfPlot of complex

function’);
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LABELING CURVES AND DATA
text command
text(x,y, ‘string’) : adds a text string to the plot at the location
specified by the coordinates x, y.
gtext(‘string’) : place the label next to the plot, where string is a
text string that specifies the label of your choice.

>> x=[0:0.01:1];
>> y=tan(x);
>> z=sec(x);
>>
plot(x,y,x,z),xlabel('x'),ylabel('Tangent
and Secant'),gtext('tan(x)'),text
(0.3,1.2,'sec(x)')
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ANNOTATING PLOT
You can create text, titles, and labels that contain mathematical
symbols, Greek letters, and other effects such as italics.
The text, gtex, title, xlabel and ylabel commands all require a
string as their argument.
Ex:

>> title('A*exp(-t/tau)sin(omega t)')

>> title('Ae^{-t/\tau}sin(\omega t)')

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THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS

Three-dimensional Line Plots

Lines in three-dimensional space can be plotted with the plot3 function.
Syntax: plot3(x,y,z)
Ex:
x  e 0.05t sin t
y  e 0.05t cos t
z t
>> t=[0:pi/50:10*pi];
>> plot3(exp(-0.05*t).*sin(t),exp(-0.05*t).*cos(t),t)
>> xlabel('x'),ylabel('y'),zlabel('z'), grid
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THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS

Surface mesh plots

z=f(x,y) represents a surface when plotted on xyz axes, and the mesh

function provides the means to generate a surface plot.

ÞGenerate a grid of these points in the xy plane first, and then evaluate

the function f(x,y) at these point.

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THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS

Surface mesh plots

meshgrid: generate the grid.
[X,Y]=meshgrid(x,y)
If x=[xmin:xspacing:xmax], y=[ymin:yspacing:ymax]
the function will generate the coordinates of a rectangular with one
corner at (xmin, ymin) and the opposite corner at (xmax, ymax).
Each rectangular panel in the grid will have a width equal to xspacing
and a depth equal to yspacing.
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THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS

[X,Y]=meshgrid(x) is equivalent to [X,Y]=meshgrid(x,x)

[X,Y]=meshgrid(min:spacing:max)

>> [X,Y]=meshgrid(-2:0.1:2);
>> Z=X.*exp(-((X-Y.^2).^2+Y.^2));
>> mesh(X,Y,Z),xlabel('x'),ylabel('y'),zlabel('z')
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Contour plots THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS
contour(X,Y,Z)
>> [X,Y]=meshgrid(-2:0.1:2);
>> Z=X.*exp(-((X-Y.^2).^2+Y.^2));
>> contour(X,Y,Z),xlabel('x'),ylabel('y')
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THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTS

PRACTICE 2
Create the surface mesh plot and a contour plot of the function

z  x  2   2 xy  y
2 2

Then use subplot to draw the following functions in the

same page, with 0t10.
v(t)=10e(-0.2+j)t