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<a name="Introduction-to-Plotting"></a>
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<p>
Next: <a href="maxima_67.html#Plotting-Formats" accesskey="n" rel="next">Plotting Formats</a>, Previous: <a href="maxima_65.html#Plotting" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Plotting</a>, Up: <a href="maxima_65.html#Plotting" accesskey="u" rel="up">Plotting</a> [<a href="maxima_toc.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="maxima_423.html#Function-and-Variable-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<a name="Introduction-to-Plotting-1"></a>
<h3 class="section">12.1 Introduction to Plotting</h3>
<p>To make the plots, Maxima can use an external plotting package or its
own graphical interface Xmaxima (see the section on <code><a href="maxima_67.html#Plotting-Formats">Plotting Formats</a></code>). The plotting functions calculate a set of points and pass
them to the plotting package together with a set of commands specific to
that graphic program. In some cases those commands and data are saved in
a file and the graphic program is executed giving it the name of that
file to be parsed.
</p>
<p>When a file is created, it will begiven the name
<code>maxout_xxx.format</code>, where <code>xxx</code> is a number that is unique to
every concurrently-running instance of Maxima and <code>format</code> is the
name of the plotting format being used (<code>gnuplot</code>, <code>xmaxima</code>,
<code>mgnuplot</code> or <code>geomview</code>).
</p>
<p>There are commands to save the plot in a graphic format file, rather
than showing it in the screen. The default name for that graphic file is
<code>maxplot.extension</code>, where <code>extension</code> is the extension
normally used for the kind of graphic file selected, but that name can
also be specified by the user.
</p>
<p>The <code>maxout_xxx.format</code> and <code>maxplot.extension</code> files are created
in the directory specified by the system variable
<code><a href="maxima_155.html#maxima_005ftempdir">maxima_tempdir</a></code>. That location can be changed by assigning to
that variable (or to the environment variable <code>MAXIMA_TEMPDIR</code>) a string
that represents a valid directory where Maxima can create new files. The
output of the Maxima plotting command will be a list with the names of
the file(s) created, including their complete path, or empty if no files
are created. Those files should be deleted after the maxima session ends.
</p>
<p>If the format used is either <code>gnuplot</code> or <code>xmaxima</code>, and the
<code>maxout_xxx.gnuplot</code> or <code>maxout_xxx.xmaxima</code> was saved,
<code>gnuplot</code> or <code>xmaxima</code> can be run, giving it the name of that
file as argument, in order to view again a plot previously created in
Maxima. Thus, when a Maxima plotting command fails, the format can be
set to <code>gnuplot</code> or <code>xmaxima</code> and the plain-text file
<code>maxout_xxx.gnuplot</code> (or <code>maxout_xxx.xmaxima</code>) can be
inspected to look for the source of the problem.
</p>
<p>The additional package <a href="maxima_250.html#draw">draw</a> provides functions similar to the ones
described in this section with some extra features, but it only works
with <code>gnuplot</code>. Note that some plotting options have the same name
in both plotting packages, but their syntax and behavior is
different. To view the documentation for a graphic option <code>opt</code>,
type <code>?? opt</code> in order to choose the information for either of
those two packages.
</p>
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Categories:<a href="maxima_424.html#Category_003a-Plotting">Plotting</a>
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Next: <a href="maxima_67.html#Plotting-Formats" accesskey="n" rel="next">Plotting Formats</a>, Previous: <a href="maxima_65.html#Plotting" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Plotting</a>, Up: <a href="maxima_65.html#Plotting" accesskey="u" rel="up">Plotting</a> [<a href="maxima_toc.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="maxima_423.html#Function-and-Variable-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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