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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.

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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:

minimal_hist 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 python_histogram

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Matplotlib Line chart

Matplotlib Bar chart

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

Matplotlib is a python library for visualizing data. You can use it to create bar charts in python. Installation of matplot is on pypi, so just use pip: pip install matplotlib

The course below is all about data visualization:

Related course:
Data Visualization with Matplotlib and Python

Bar chart code

A bar chart shows values as vertical bars, where the position of each bar indicates the value it represents. matplot aims to make it as easy as possible to turn data into Bar Charts.

A bar chart in matplotlib made from python 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:

figure_barchart 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 Bar chart horizontal

Bar chart comparison

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:

barchart_python Python Bar Chart comparison

Stacked bar chart

The example below creates a stacked bar chart with Matplotlib. Stacked bar plots show diffrent groups together. 

# load matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# data set
x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']
y1 = [100, 120, 110, 130]
y2 = [120, 125, 115, 125]

# plot stacked bar chart 
plt.bar(x, y1, color='g')
plt.bar(x, y2, bottom=y1, color='y')
plt.show()

Output:

stacked bar chart

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Matplotlib legend

matplotlib save figure

matplotlib time axis

Matplotlib supports plots with time on the horizontal (x) axis. The data values will be put on the vertical (y) axis. In this article we’ll demonstrate that using a few examples.

It is required to use the Python datetime module, a standard module.

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Plot time
You can plot time using a timestamp:


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

# create data
y = [ 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20 ]
x = [datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(hours=i) for i in range(len(y))]

# plot
plt.plot(x,y)
plt.gcf().autofmt_xdate()
plt.show()

matplotilb-time

If you want to change the interval use one of the lines below:


# minutes
x = [datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(minutes=i) for i in range(len(y))]

Time plot from specific hour/minute

To start from a specific date, create a new timestamp using datetime.datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute).
Full example:


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

# create data
customdate = datetime.datetime(2016, 1, 1, 13, 30)
y = [ 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20 ]
x = [customdate + datetime.timedelta(hours=i) for i in range(len(y))]

# plot
plt.plot(x,y)
plt.gcf().autofmt_xdate()
plt.show()

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matplotlib heatmap

A heatmap can be created using Matplotlib and numpy.

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If you want to learn more on data visualization, this course is good:

Heatmap example


The histogram2d function can be used to generate a heatmap.

We create some random data arrays (x,y) to use in the program. We set bins to 64, the resulting heatmap will be 64x64. If you want another size change the number of bins.


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

# Create data
x = np.random.randn(4096)
y = np.random.randn(4096)

# Create heatmap
heatmap, xedges, yedges = np.histogram2d(x, y, bins=(64,64))
extent = [xedges[0], xedges[-1], yedges[0], yedges[-1]]

# Plot heatmap
plt.clf()
plt.title('Pythonspot.com heatmap example')
plt.ylabel('y')
plt.xlabel('x')
plt.imshow(heatmap, extent=extent)
plt.show()

Result:

matplot-heatmap Matplotlib heatmap

The datapoints in this example are totally random and generated using np.random.randn()

 

pyqt5 matplotlib

Matplotlib offers powerful visualizations that can be seamlessly integrated into a PyQt5 application. For this, specific libraries and imports are required.

Here’s how you can include Matplotlib plots within a PyQt5 application:

from matplotlib.backends.backend_qt5agg import FigureCanvasQTAgg as FigureCanvas
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

The primary component here is a widget named ‘PlotCanvas’ which houses the Matplotlib visualization.

Matplot plot in a PyQt5 window

Integration of Matplotlib with PyQt5
The example provided below illustrates the embedding process of a Matplotlib plot within a PyQt5 window. Additionally, we’ll integrate a qpushbutton for demonstration.

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QMenu, QVBoxLayout, QSizePolicy, QMessageBox, QWidget, QPushButton
from PyQt5.QtGui import QIcon
from matplotlib.backends.backend_qt5agg import FigureCanvasQTAgg as FigureCanvas
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import random

class App(QMainWindow):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.left = 10
        self.top = 10
        self.title = 'PyQt5 and Matplotlib Integration - pythonspot.com'
        self.width = 640
        self.height = 400
        self.initUI()

    def initUI(self):
        self.setWindowTitle(self.title)
        self.setGeometry(self.left, self.top, self.width, self.height)
        m = PlotCanvas(self, width=5, height=4)
        m.move(0,0)
        button = QPushButton('Sample PyQt5 Button', self)
        button.setToolTip('This is an illustrative button')
        button.move(500,0)
        button.resize(140,100)
        self.show()

class PlotCanvas(FigureCanvas):

    def __init__(self, parent=None, width=5, height=4, dpi=100):
        fig = Figure(figsize=(width, height), dpi=dpi)
        self.axes = fig.add_subplot(111)
        FigureCanvas.__init__(self, fig)
        self.setParent(parent)
        FigureCanvas.setSizePolicy(self, QSizePolicy.Expanding, QSizePolicy.Expanding)
        FigureCanvas.updateGeometry(self)
        self.plot()

    def plot(self):
        data = [random.random() for i in range(25)]
        ax = self.figure.add_subplot(111)
        ax.plot(data, 'r-')
        ax.set_title('PyQt and Matplotlib Demonstration')
        self.draw()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    ex = App()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

For those keen on diving deeper into PyQt5’s capabilities, consider downloading these comprehensive PyQT5 Example Codes.

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