Now that we have discussed the background to creating plots in LaTeX, let\u2019s try creating a basic 2D plot alongside a basic 3D one.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\\documentclass{article}\n\\usepackage[margin=0.25in]{geometry}\n\\usepackage{pgfplots}\n\\pgfplotsset{width=8cm,compat=1.9}\n \n\\usepgfplotslibrary{external}\n\\tikzexternalize\n \n\\begin{document}\n \n\\begin{tikzpicture}\n\\begin{axis}\n\\addplot[color=blue]{exp(x)};\n\\end{axis}\n\\end{tikzpicture}\n \n\\hskip 8pt\n \n\\begin{tikzpicture}\n\\begin{axis}\n\\addplot3[\n surf,\n]\n{exp(y^2-x^2)*x};\n\\end{axis}\n\\end{tikzpicture}\n\\end{document}\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\nThe above code produces a 2D line plot alongside a 3D plot.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We first started by creating a tikzpicture<\/em> environment, as any pgfplots<\/em> must be located inside this environment. We then used the commands \\begin{axis}<\/em>, and \\end{axis}<\/em> to set linear scaling for our plot. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf we wanted a log scale for x <\/em>and normal scale for y<\/em> we could use the commands \\begin{semilogxaxis}, and \\end{semilogxaxis}. We will discuss more of these axes commands later in this guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the above code, we used \\addplot[color=blue]{log(x)}<\/em> to set our plot color to blue. <\/p>\n\n\n\nNotice how the color<\/em> parameter is enclosed in square brackets. We can add additional plot options in these square brackets. Just remember to include them in your code syntax, even if you aren\u2019t using any additional options. The code also ends with a semicolon \u201c;<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWe then added a second plot next to the first one by declaring the new picture environment using\\begin{tikzpicture}<\/em>. Above this command we added \\hskip 8pt<\/em> to insert a blank space 8pt wide between our two plots. We then followed the same code as we did for the first plot. <\/p>\n\n\n\nUsing the code<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\\addplot3[\n surf,\n]\n{exp(y^2-x^2)*x};\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\nWe added a plot for the expression exp(y^2-x^2)*x<\/em>. The addplot3<\/em> code informs LaTeX to create a 3-D plot, and the code [surf]<\/em> specifies that it should be a surface plot for the aforementioned equation. This equation should always be enclosed using curly brackets {…}<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n