Category: Tutorials

Matplotlib Histogram

Matplotlib can be used to create histograms. A histogram shows the frequency on the vertical axis and the horizontal axis is another dimension. Usually it has bins, where every bin has a minimum and maximum value. Each bin also has a frequency between x and infinite.

Related course
Matplotlib Intro with Python

Matplotlib histogram example
Below we show the most minimal Matplotlib histogram:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.mlab as mlab
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [21,22,23,4,5,6,77,8,9,10,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,18,49,50,100]
num_bins = 5
n, bins, patches = plt.hist(x, num_bins, facecolor='blue', alpha=0.5)
plt.show()

Output:

Python histogram

A complete matplotlib python histogram
Many things can be added to a histogram such as a fit line, labels and so on. The code below creates a more advanced histogram.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.mlab as mlab
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# example data
mu = 100 # mean of distribution
sigma = 15 # standard deviation of distribution
x = mu + sigma * np.random.randn(10000)

num_bins = 20
# the histogram of the data
n, bins, patches = plt.hist(x, num_bins, normed=1, facecolor='blue', alpha=0.5)

# add a 'best fit' line
y = mlab.normpdf(bins, mu, sigma)
plt.plot(bins, y, 'r--')
plt.xlabel('Smarts')
plt.ylabel('Probability')
plt.title(r'Histogram of IQ: $\mu=100$, $\sigma=15$')

# Tweak spacing to prevent clipping of ylabel
plt.subplots_adjust(left=0.15)
plt.show()

Output:

python_histogram

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Matplotlib Bar chart

Matplotlib may be used to create bar charts. You might like the Matplotlib gallery.

Related course
The course below is all about data visualization:

Matplotlib Intro with Python

Bar chart code
The code below creates a bar chart:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt; plt.rcdefaults()
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

objects = ('Python', 'C++', 'Java', 'Perl', 'Scala', 'Lisp')
y_pos = np.arange(len(objects))
performance = [10,8,6,4,2,1]

plt.bar(y_pos, performance, align='center', alpha=0.5)
plt.xticks(y_pos, objects)
plt.ylabel('Usage')
plt.title('Programming language usage')

plt.show()

Output:

Python Bar Chart

Matplotlib charts can be horizontal, to create a horizontal bar chart:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt; plt.rcdefaults()
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

objects = ('Python', 'C++', 'Java', 'Perl', 'Scala', 'Lisp')
y_pos = np.arange(len(objects))
performance = [10,8,6,4,2,1]

plt.barh(y_pos, performance, align='center', alpha=0.5)
plt.yticks(y_pos, objects)
plt.xlabel('Usage')
plt.title('Programming language usage')

plt.show()

Output:

Bar chart horizontal

More on bar charts
You can compare two data series using this Matplotlib code:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# data to plot
n_groups = 4
means_frank = (90, 55, 40, 65)
means_guido = (85, 62, 54, 20)

# create plot
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
index = np.arange(n_groups)
bar_width = 0.35
opacity = 0.8

rects1 = plt.bar(index, means_frank, bar_width,
alpha=opacity,
color='b',
label='Frank')

rects2 = plt.bar(index + bar_width, means_guido, bar_width,
alpha=opacity,
color='g',
label='Guido')

plt.xlabel('Person')
plt.ylabel('Scores')
plt.title('Scores by person')
plt.xticks(index + bar_width, ('A', 'B', 'C', 'D'))
plt.legend()

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Output:

Python Bar Chart comparison

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Matplotlib Pie chart

Matplotlib supports pie charts using the pie() function. You might like the Matplotlib gallery.

Related course:
Matplotlib Intro with Python

Matplotlib pie chart
The code below creates a pie chart:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Data to plot
labels = 'Python', 'C++', 'Ruby', 'Java'
sizes = [215, 130, 245, 210]
colors = ['gold', 'yellowgreen', 'lightcoral', 'lightskyblue']
explode = (0.1, 0, 0, 0)  # explode 1st slice

# Plot
plt.pie(sizes, explode=explode, labels=labels, colors=colors,
autopct='%1.1f%%', shadow=True, startangle=140)

plt.axis('equal')
plt.show()

Output:

pie chart python

To add a legend use the plt.legend() function:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

labels = ['Cookies', 'Jellybean', 'Milkshake', 'Cheesecake']
sizes = [38.4, 40.6, 20.7, 10.3]
colors = ['yellowgreen', 'gold', 'lightskyblue', 'lightcoral']
patches, texts = plt.pie(sizes, colors=colors, shadow=True, startangle=90)
plt.legend(patches, labels, loc="best")
plt.axis('equal')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Output:

python pie chart

Download All Matplotlib Examples