Wolfram: Plot and Visualization

By Xah Lee. Date: 2022-02-09. Last updated: 2024-06-25.

There are two major types of builtin plotting functions:

Plot math functions. e.g. plot sine, equation, vector valued function, complex function, parametric formula for 2D or 3D, etc.
Plot data (usually list of numbers), such as pie chart, bar chart, statistics, histogram, stock chart, or a surface by a bunch of points, etc.

Plot Math Functions

math function plotting's names contains the word “Plot”.

To get a list of builtin functions for plotting, type any one of the following to get a list:

?*Plot*
Names["*Plot*"]
Information["*Plot*"]

or see

FunctionVisualization

for example:

Plot3D[ Sin[x] Sin[y], {x,0,10}, {y,0,10} ]

Functions for Data Visualization

e.g. BarChart, PieChart, Histogram, BoxWhiskerChart, etc.

DataVisualization

example

PieChart3D[{3, 10, 1}, ChartLabels -> {"a", "b", "c"}]

Find Options of Functions

Type Options[ FunctionName ] to get a list of options for the function.

Options[ Plot ]

WolframLang Options 2022-02-09 f66T — Options for Plot

Type ?Name to get the documentation for the option name.

?Axes

Click the info icon to goto the full documentation.

Commonly Used Options for 2D Graphics

Commonly Used Options for 3D Graphics

Commonly used options for 3d plot functions that plots surface of math function. For example: Plot3D, ParametricPlot3D

PlotPoints -> {50,60}
Axes -> False
Boxed -> False
BoundaryStyle -> Directive[Black, Thin] → boundary line.
Mesh -> None
MeshShading -> {{None}, {None}} → no surface patch.
PlotStyle -> Directive[White, Opacity[0.7], Specularity[10, 20]] → surface color, transparency, shine.
Lighting -> "Neutral"

example:

ParametricPlot3D[
{Cos[u]*(2 + Cos[v]), Sin[u]*(2 + Cos[v]), Sin[v]} ,
{u, 0, 5},
{v, 0, 6},
 PlotPoints -> 100,
 Axes -> False,
 Boxed -> False,
 BoundaryStyle -> Directive[Black, Thin],
 PlotStyle -> Directive[White, Opacity[0.7], Specularity[10, 20]],
 Lighting -> "Neutral"]