Subplots

In the previous section, we have seen a couple of important functions without introducing them. Let's have a look at them now:

• fig = plt.figure(): This function returns a Figure, where we can add one or more Axes instances.

• ax = fig.add_subplot(111): This function returns an Axes instance, where we can plot (as done so far), and this is also the reason why we call the variable referring to that instance ax (from Axes). This is a common way to add an Axes to a Figure, but add_subplot() does a bit more: it adds a subplot. So far we have only seen a Figure with one Axes instance, so only one area where we can draw, but Matplotlib allows more than one.

add_subplot() takes three parameters:

fig.add_subplot(numrows, numcols, fignum)

where:

• numrows represents the number of rows of subplots to prepare

• numcols represents the number of columns of subplots to prepare

• fignum varies from 1 to numrows*numcols and specifies the current subplot (the one used now)

Basically, we describe a matrix...