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RE: Re: How do I make graphs of (easy) functions like those in textbooks?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg40561] RE: [mg40444] Re: How do I make graphs of (easy) functions like those in textbooks?
  • From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net>
  • Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 03:38:39 -0400 (EDT)
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Bill,

You hit the nail right on the head in recommending the Edward Tufte books!

There are three of them, each one a gem.
1) The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Now in a 2nd Edition)
2) Envisioning Information
3) Visual Explanations

I thought I might try to summarize some of Tufte's ideas, at least as they
apply to producing graphics with Mathematica.

1) Maximize the information - minimize the ink. Know exactly what
information you are trying to convey with the graphic; this is not always
obvious. "If a picture isn't worth a thousand words, then the hell with it."

2) In putting in ancillary information use the minimum effective difference
to convey that information. That leaves more visual space for the important
information. You usually don't need a grid, but if you are going to have one
make it light, almost invisible. You often don't need as many tick marks or
subdivisions as Mathematica normally supplies. A simple scale line will
sometimes be enough. Legends are usually horrible! They are too large, too
distracting and convey little information. Much better to label individual
graph lines. Much of the extra and useless nonsense that is put into
graphics is called "chartjunk" or "computer junk". Get rid of it.

4) Combine your graphics with text cells. Some ideas are better conveyed by
words. A nice Mathematica notebook is often an intermixing of Text cells,
Input/Output cells and Graphics cells. If the code to produce the graphics
is fairly long (It often is for good graphics.) then you can close up the
graphics input cell so that it is just a thin blank cell that the user can
evaluate for the graphic. Then the notebook is very readable, just like an
interactive text book.

There are many other really useful ideas and examples in Tufte. Effective
graphics are important in conveying information and Tufte is a sure guide in
learning how to do it.

David Park
djmp at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/


From: Bill Rowe [mailto:listuser at earthlink.net]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net


An excellent general guide to displaying graphic information is

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information written by Edward Tufte

This reference shows many examples of very bad and very good graphic
displays. Tufte also give general guidelines for creating good graphics.
Adding emphasis to the axes by making it darker and adding arrows is
definitely inconsistent with the guidelines Tufte gives.

Adding emphasis to the axes draws attention to the axes and away from the
data (parabola and plotted points). Since the only reason for producing a
graph is to display the data, other elements of the graph should help
clarify the data, not draw attention away from the data.



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