Plotting Data Using

matplotlib

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 Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to do
the following:
• Explain Visualizations
• Plotting using Matplotlib
• Customisation of Plots
• The Pandas Plot Function (Pandas Visualisation)

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 Introduction
• Data visualization is the discipline of trying to
understand data by placing it in a visual context so
that patterns, trends and correlations that might not
otherwise be detected can be exposed.
• Data visualisation means graphical or pictorial
representation of the data using graph, chart, etc.
The purpose of plotting data is to visualise variation
or show relationships between variables.

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 Contd..
• Visualisation also helps to effectively communicate
information to intended users.
• Visualisation of data is effectively used in fields like
health, finance, science, mathematics, engineering,
etc.
• Python offers multiple great graphing libraries that
come packed with lots of different features.

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 Data Visualization
• To get a little overview here are a few popular
plotting libraries:
– Matplotlib: low level, provides lots of freedom
– Pandas Visualization: easy to use interface, built on
Matplotlib
– Seaborn: high-level interface, great default styles
– ggplot: based on R’s ggplot2, uses Grammar of Graphics
– Plotly: can create interactive plots

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 Plotting Using matplotlib

• Matplotlib library is used for creating static,

animated, and interactive 2D- plots or figures in
Python.
• Install
pip install matplotlib

• For Plotting
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

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 Components of a Plot

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 Plotting Using matplotlib
• The pyplot module of matplotlib contains a
collection of functions that can be used to work on a
plot.
• The plot() function of the pyplot module is used
to create a figure.
• A figure contains a plotting area, legend, axis labels,
ticks, title, etc.

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 Plotting Using matplotlib

• Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
#list storing date in string format
date=["25/12","26/12","27/12"]
#list storing temperature values
temp=[8.5,10.5,6.8]
#create a figure plotting temp versus
date
plt.plot(date, temp)
#show the figure
plt.show()

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 Plotting Using matplotlib

• The plot() function by default plots a line chart.

• We can click on the save button on the output
window and save the plot as an image.
• A figure can also be saved by using savefig()
function.
• Example:

plt.savefig(‘line.png')

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 pyplot Functions
• List of pyplot functions to plot different charts

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 Customization of Plots
• Pyplot library gives us numerous functions to customise
charts such as adding titles or legends.

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 Customization of Plots
• Example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
date=["25/12","26/12","27/12"]
temp=[8.5,10.5,6.8]
plt.plot(date, temp)
plt.xlabel("Date") #add the Label on x-axis
plt.ylabel("Temperature") #add the Label on y-axis
plt.title("Date wise Temperature") #add the title
to the chart
plt.grid(True) #add gridlines to the background
plt.yticks(temp)
plt.show()

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 Marker
• Other changes can be made into plots by passing
various parameters to the plot() function.
• It is also possible to specify each point in the line
through a marker.
• A marker is any symbol that represents a data value
in a line chart or a scatter plot.

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 matplotlib Markers

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 Colour
• It is possible to format the plot further be changing
the colour of the plotted area.

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 Linewidth and Line Style
• The width and style of line chart can also be changed
• Example:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import pandas as pd
height=[121.9,124.5,129.5,134.6,139.7,147.3,152.4,
157.5,162.6]
weight=[19.7,21.3,23.5,25.9,28.5,32.1,35.7,39.6,43
.2]
df=pd.DataFrame({"height":height,"weight":weight})
#Set xlabel for the plot
plt.xlabel('Weight in kg‘)

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 Linewidth and Linestyle
• Example..

#Set ylabel for the plot

plt.ylabel('Height in cm')
#Set chart title:
plt.title('Average weight with respect to average
height')
#plot using marker'-*' and line colour as green
plt.plot(df.weight,df.height,marker='*',markersize
=10,color='green
',linewidth=2, linestyle='dashdot')
plt.show()

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 The Pandas Plot function (Pandas
Visualisation)
• Pandas objects Series and DataFrame come
equipped with their own .plot() methods.
• This plot() method is just a simple wrapper
around the plot() function of pyplot.
• The plot() method of Pandas accepts a
considerable number of arguments that can be used
to plot a variety of graphs.

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 plot() Method of Pandas
• The general syntax is: plt.plot(kind).

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 Plotting a Line Chart
• Line plot graph shows the frequency of data along a
line number. Example:
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# reads "MelaSales.csv" to df by giving
path to the file
df=pd.read_csv("MelaSales.csv")
#create a line plot of different color for
each week
df.plot(kind='line',
color=['red','blue','brown'])

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 Plotting a Line Chart
• Example..

# Set title to "Mela Sales Report"

plt.title('Mela Sales Report')
# Label x axis as "Days"
plt.xlabel('Days')
# Label y axis as "Sales in Rs"
plt.ylabel('Sales in Rs')
#Display the figure
plt.show()

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 Customizing Line Plot
• Substitute the ticks at x axis with a list of values of
our choice by using plt.xticks(ticks,label)
Maker ="*"
Marker size=10
linestyle="--"
Linewidth =3
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
df=pd.read_csv("MelaSales.csv")
#creates plot of different color for each week
df.plot(kind='line',
color=['red','blue','brown'],marker="*",marke
rsize=10,linewidth=3,linestyle="--")

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 Customizing Line Plot
• Example Conti..
plt.title('Mela Sales Report')
plt.xlabel('Days')
plt.ylabel('Sales in Rs')
#store converted index of DataFrame to a list
ticks = df.index.tolist()
#displays corresponding day on x axis
plt.xticks(ticks,df.Day)
plt.show()

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 Plotting Bar Chart
• To show comparisons, we prefer Bar charts. Unlike
line plots, bar charts can plot strings on the x axis.
import pandas as pd
df= pd.read_csv('MelaSales.csv')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# plots a bar chart with the column "Days"
as x axis
df.plot(kind='bar',x='Day',title='Mela
Sales Report')
#set title and set ylabel
plt.ylabel('Sales in Rs')
plt.show()

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