Re: Re: How do I make graphs of (easy) functions like those in textbooks?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg40646] Re: Re: How do I make graphs of (easy) functions like those in textbooks?
- From: "Kevin J. McCann" <kmccann at umbc.edu>
- Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 03:08:29 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- References: <b737df$nqb$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I completely agree with David. I have seen countless presentations good and bad over the years, and would like to mention just one particular thing that presenters and report writers often leave out: label the axes of your plot clearly and with the units. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen presentations or looked at reports which required numerous questions and explanations that resulted from poorly labeled or unlabeled plots. Mathematica users are often guilty of this because a plain x-y plot is so easy, but dressing it up takes more effort. For your own sake, expend the effort. Kevin -- Kevin J. McCann Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) Department of Physics UMBC Baltimore MD 21250 "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net> wrote in message news:b737df$nqb$1 at smc.vnet.net... > 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. > >