Contents

7.17. Summary

In this chapter, you learned how to create plots using Python and Matplotlib. You learned what Matplotlib is and why problem solvers should learn how to use Matplotlib. Matplotlib installation was shown at the start of the chapter. Then, you learned how to build line plots and save plots as image files. You learned how to customize plots by including axis label, titles, and legends on your plots. You also learned how to add annotations to plots.

The types of plots detailed in this chapter are shown in the table below.

Chart Type

Matplotlib method

line plot

ax.plot(x,y)

multi-line plot

ax.plot(x,y) ax.plot(x,z)

bar graph

ax.bar(x_pos, heights)

pie chart

ax.pie(sizes, labels=[labels])

bar graphs with error bars

ax.bar(x_pos, heights, yerr=[error])

line plot with error bars

ax.errorbar(x, y, xerr= , yerr= )

histogram

ax.hist(data, n_bins)

box plot

ax.boxplot([data list])

violin plot

ax.violinplot([data list])

scatter plot

ax.scatter(x_points, y_points)

plot annotations

ax.annotate('text',xy=loc,xy_coords= )

subplots

fig, (ax1,ax2,ax3) = plt.subplots(1,3)

plot styles

plt.style.use('style')

2D contour plot

ax.contour(X, Y, Z)

2D filled contour plot

ax.contourf(X, Y, Z)

color bars

fig.colorbar(cf, ax=ax)

color maps

mycmap = plt.get_cmap('map')

quiver plot

ax.quiver(x_pos, y_pos, x_dir, y_dir)

stream plot

ax.streamplot(x,y,x_d,y_d, density= )

3D surface plot

ax.plot_surface(X, Y, Z)

3D wireframe plot

ax.plot_wireframe(X,Y,Z)

7.17.1. Key Terms and Concepts

plot

dpi

invoke

library

parameters

RGBA

object

attribute

object-oriented programming

method

image resolution

error bars

box plot

violin plot

histogram

annotation

reference frame

contour plot

quiver plot

stream plot

gradient

field

wire frame plot

projection

7.17.2. Additional Resources

Matplotlib official documentation: https://matplotlib.org/contents.html

Matplotlib summary notebook on Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/grroverpr/matplotlib-plotting-guide/notebook

Python Plotting With Matplotlib (Guide) on Real Python: https://realpython.com/python-matplotlib-guide/#why-can-matplotlib-be-confusing

Python For Data Science: Matplotlib Cheat Sheet from DataCamp: https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.datacamp.com/blog_assets/Python_Matplotlib_Cheat_Sheet.pdf