Basic Plotting Commands

Matplotlib provides a rich set of plotting functions. In this lesson, we'll cover the essential commands you'll use most frequently.

The plot() Function

The plot() function creates line plots and is the most versatile plotting command:

Format Strings

Matplotlib uses format strings for quick styling:

Using Keyword Arguments

For more control, use keyword arguments:

The scatter() Function

For scatter plots showing relationships between variables:

Color-Coded Scatter Plots

Map a third variable to color:

The bar() and barh() Functions

For categorical comparisons:

Customizing Bars

The hist() Function

For showing data distributions:

Comparing Distributions

Combining Plot Types

You can combine different plot types on the same axes:

Practice: Create Multiple Plot Types

Quick Reference

Function	Use Case	Key Parameters
plot()	Line plots	color, linewidth, linestyle, marker
scatter()	Point plots	c, s, cmap, alpha
bar()/barh()	Category comparisons	color, width, edgecolor
hist()	Distributions	bins, color, alpha, edgecolor

Key Takeaways

• plot() creates line plots; use format strings for quick styling
• scatter() creates point plots; use c for color mapping
• bar() and barh() create vertical and horizontal bar charts
• hist() shows data distribution; adjust bins for granularity
• Combine plot types on the same axes for rich visualizations
• Use alpha for transparency when overlapping elements

In the next module, we'll dive deeper into line and scatter plots for visualizing trends and relationships.