MATLAB

2D and 3D PLOTS
MATLAB PLOTTING
 Creating Vectors
Create vector with equally spaced intervals
>> x=0:0.5:pi
x =
0 0.5000 1.0000 1.5000 2.0000 2.5000 3.0000

Create vector with n equally spaced intervals
>> x=linspace(0, pi, 7)
x =
0 0.5236 1.0472 1.5708 2.0944 2.6180 3.1416

Equal spaced intervals in logarithm space
>> x=logspace(1,2,7)
x =
10.0000 14.6780 21.5443 … 68.1292 100.0000

1 2
10 10
Note: The logspace creates 7 equally distributed values between            and  
 100
Length of the 
90
Initial  increment
80
Value Final value
70

60

50

40

30

>> x=[0:5:100]; 20

>> y=x; 10

>> plot(x,y)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

100

>> stem(x,y) 90

80

70

60

50

40

NOTE: stem(  ) is used to plot 30

discrete sequence data.  20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 10000

9000

8000

7000

6000

5000

>> x=[‐100:20:100]; 4000

3000

>> y=x^2; 2000

??? Error using ==> mpower 1000

Matrix must be square. 0
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100

>>y=x.^2; 10000

>> plot(x,y) 9000

8000
>> stem(x,y) 7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
 6
x 10
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

>> x=[‐100:5:100]; -0.2

-0.4

>> y=x.^3; -0.6

-0.8

>> plot(x,y) -1
-100
6
-80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
x 10

>> stem(x,y) 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

NOTE:  0

-0.2
If the length of the increments -0.4

are small, then curve will be -0.6

more smoother. -0.8

-1
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
 2D PLOTS
To Plot the function sin(x) between 0≤x≤4π
Final value
Initial value No.of increments

0.8

0.6

>> x=linspace(0,4*pi,100); 0.4

>> y=sin(x); 0.2

0
>> plot(y); -0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 2D PLOTS
To Plot the function e(‐x/3) between 0≤x≤4π
1

0.9

0.8

>> x1=linspace(0,4*pi,100); 0.7

0.6

>> y1=exp(‐x1/3); 0.5

>>plot(y1);
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

To Plot the function cos(x) between 0≤x≤4π
1

0.8

>> a=linspace(0,4*pi,100); 0.6

0.4

>> b=cos(a); 0.2

>> plot(a,b); -0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
 2D PLOTS
To Plot the function e(‐x/3)sin(x) between 0≤x≤4π
0.7

0.6

0.5

>> z=linspace(0,4*pi,100); 0.4

0.3

>> y1=sin(z); 0.2

0.1

>> y2=exp(‐z/3); 0

-0.1

>>y3=y1*y2; -0.2

-0.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

??? Error using ==> mtimes
Inner matrix dimensions must  0.7

agree.
0.6

0.5

>>y3=y1.*y2; 0.4

0.3

>>plot(y3); 0.2

0.1

>>stem(y3); 0

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
AXIS SCALES
MATLAB COMMANDS
Using M‐file, plotting with title and labels

this is sinus function

1

0.8
x=linspace(0,2*pi,100); 0.6
y=sin(x); 0.4

plot(x,y); 0.2
f(x)-values
title('this is sinus function'); 0

xlabel('x‐values'); -0.2

ylabel('f(x)‐values'); -0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
x-values
MULTIPLE GRAPHES
 MULTIPLE GRAPHES
Using M‐file, plotting multiple graphs in a figure window
1

t = 0:pi/100:2*pi;
0.8

0.6

y1=sin(t); 0.4

0.2

y2=sin(t+pi/2); 0

-0.2
NOTE:
plot(t,y1,t,y2) -0.4

-0.6
When  we  plot 
grid on -0.8

-1
multiple  graphs, 
the  command  
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

t = 0:pi/100:2*pi; 0.8
y1
y2 “legend (  )”
y1=sin(t);
0.6

0.4
is  used  for 
y2=sin(t+pi/2); 0.2
identification  of 
0

plot(t,y1,t,y2) -0.2 graphs

-0.4

legend('y1','y2') -0.6

grid off -0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SUB PLOTS
 SUB PLOTS
Using M‐file, plotting multiple plots by dividing
the figure window
1 1

t = 0:pi/100:2*pi; 0.5 0.5

y1=sin(t); 0 0

y2=sin(t+pi/2); -0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
subplot(2,2,1) 0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8

plot(t,y1)
subplot(2,2,2)
plot(t,y2)
SUB PLOTS
SUB PLOTS
clc
clear all SUB PLOTS
x=0:.1:2*pi;
subplot(2,2,1);
plot(x,sin(x),'b*'); 1
sin(x)
1
cos(x)

title('sin(x)') 0.5 0.5

subplot(2,2,2); 0 0

plot(x,cos(x),'r‐o'); -0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
title('cos(x)') 0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8

exp(-x) sin(3x)
subplot(2,2,3) 1 1

0.5
plot(x,exp(‐x),'g.'); 0.5 0

title('exp(‐x)') -0.5

subplot(2,2,4); 0
0 2 4 6 8
-1
0 2 4 6 8

plot(x,sin(3*x),'m‐o');
title('sin(3x)')
COLOR PLOTS
 2D PLOTS
To plot with color and special symbols
2D PLOTS
 2D PLOTS

To plot with color and special symbols

100

80

60

40

x = (‐pi/2)+0.01:0.01:(pi/2)‐0.01; 20

plot(x,tan(x),'g‐*'); 0

-20

grid on -40

-60

-80

-100
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
 2D PLOTS

To plot with color and special symbols
This is cosine function
1

0.8

x = ‐pi:0.01:pi;  0.6

plot(x,cos(x),'y‐*'); 0.4

title('This is cosine  0.2

0
function'); -0.2

grid on -0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
 2D PLOTS
To draw a circle with centre (1, 3)

clc 5
Circle

clear all 4.5

t = linspace(0, 2*pi, 101); 4

x = 1 +2*cos(t); 3.5

y = 3 +2*sin(t); y-axis
3

plot(x,y,'r.') 2.5

axis equal 2

xlabel('x‐axis') 1.5

ylabel('y‐axis') 1
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
x-axis
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

title('Circle‘)
 2D PLOTS

To plot with color and special symbols
1
cos(x)
0.8 cos(2x)

0.6

y = linspace(‐10,10,1000) 0.4

plot(y,cos(y),'b.',y,cos(2*y),'g.') 0.2

y a x is
xlabel('x axis') 0

-0.2

ylabel('y axis') -0.4

legend('cos(x)','cos(2x)‘) -0.6

-0.8

-1
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
x axis
 Plotting Polynomials
Polynomial function A(s)=S3+3S2+3S+1

s = linspace (‐5, 5, 100); 250

coeff = [ 1 3 3 1]; 200

150

A = polyval (coeff, s); 100

plot (s, A)

A(s)
50

title('Polynomial function  0

A(s)=S^3+3S^2+3S+1') -50

xlabel ('s') -100

-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
s
1 2 3 4 5

ylabel ('A(s)')
 Drawing Bar Charts
x = [1:10];
y = [75, 58, 90, 87, 50, 85, 92, 75, 60, 95];
bar(x,y), xlabel('Student'),ylabel('Score'),
title('First Sem‘)

First Sem:
100

90

80

70

60
Score

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Student
 DRAWING CONTOURS
[x,y] = meshgrid(‐5:0.1:5,‐3:0.1:3); 
g = x.^2 + y.^2; 
contour(x,y,g)

-1

-2

-3
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
 DRAWING CONTOURS
[x,y] = meshgrid(‐5:0.1:5,‐3:0.1:3); 
g = x.^2 + y.^2; 
[C, h] = contour(x,y,g); 
set(h,'ShowText','on','TextStep',get(h,'LevelStep')*2)
3

30
30

20

20
10
10

1
10

10
20

20
0

-1

-2
10

10

20
20
30

30

-3
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Plotting with command “ezplot ( )”
x 3 - 27 x

80

60

40

20
>>syms x; 0

>> y=x^3‐27*x; -20

>> ezplot(y) -40

-60

-80

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
x

NOTE: By default, ezplot graphs from x=‐2*pi to x=+2*pi.
You can change the domain by adding a second argument
to the call to ezplot. For example, to plot the above function
from x=2 to x=4 you type:
x 3 - 27 x

-44

-45

-46

-47

-48

-49
ezplot(y,[2,4]) -50

-51

-52

-53

-54

2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4

x
You may also change the limits of the y axis by 
using the ”ylim” function  after you have made the graph.

x 3 - 27 x
-40

-42

-44

-46

y=x^3‐27*x; -48

ezplot(y,[2,4]) -50

-52
ylim([‐60,‐40]) -54

-56

-58

-60
2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4
x
Note that you don’t have to define y first to use ezplot;
you can just type in the function you want to graph:

cos(2 x) cos(x)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

ezplot(cos(x)*cos(2*x)) 0

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
x
 POLAR PLOTS
90
1
120 60
0.8

0.6
150 30
0.4

>> syms theta 0.2

>> ezpolar(cos(2*theta)) 180 0

210 330

240 300
270

r = cos(2 θ)
 3D PLOTS

t=linspace(0,2*pi,500);
x=cos(t);
y=sin(t);
z=sin(5*t);
xlabel('x‐axis');
ylabel('y‐axis');
zlabel('z‐axis');
title('3D Curve');
comet3(x,y,z);
plot3(x,y,z);
 Curves in space
You can use the ”ezplot3” function to graph curves 
in space. For example, we can define a helix by the 
parametric equations: x = cos(t), y = sin(t), z = t

x = cos(t), y = sin(t), z = t

>> syms t
>> ezplot3(cos(t),sin(t),t,[0,6*pi]) 20

15

10

z
5

0
1
0.5 1
0 0.5
0
-0.5 -0.5
y -1 -1
x
 3D PLOTS
[x,y] = meshgrid(‐2:.2:2);
g = x .* exp(‐x.^2 ‐ y.^2);
surf(x, y, g)
0.5

-0.5
2
1 2
0 1
0
-1 -1
-2 -2
 3D PLOTS
x=‐1:.05:1;
1

y=‐1:.05:1; 0.5

[x,y]=meshgrid(x,y); 0

z=x.*y.^2‐x.^3 -0.5

surf(x,y,z); -1
1
0.5 1

colormap spring 0
-0.5 -0.5
0
0.5

-1 -1

shading interp
 3D PLOTS
2 x2 + 2 y2

syms x y
150

f = 2*(x^2+y^2)
100
ezsurf(f)
colormap cool 50

0
5
5
0
0
-5 -5
y x
 3D PLOTS x 2+y 2

200

150

100

50

0
10
5 10
0 5
0
-5 -5
y -10 -10
x

>> ezsurf('x^2+y^2',[-10 10 -10 10])

>> ezsurf('x^2+y^2',[-10 10 -10 10],'circ') x 2+y 2

250

200

z 150

100

50

0
20
10 20
0 10
0
-10 -10
y -20 -20
x
SAVE PLOTS