Graphics

Comparing Datasets with Area Graphs

Area graphs are useful for comparing different datasets. For example, given a vector containing sales figures,

• sales = [51.6 82.4 90.8 59.1 47.0];
  

for the five-year period

• x = 90:94;
  

and a vector containing profits figures for the same five-year period

• profits = [19.3 34.2 61.4 50.5 29.4];
  

display both as two separate area graphs within the same axes. Set the color of the area interior (FaceColor), its edges (EdgeColor), and the width of the edge lines (LineWidth). See patch for a complete list of properties.

• area(x,sales,'FaceColor',[.5 .9 .6],...
               'EdgeColor','b',...
               'LineWidth',2)
  hold on
  area(x,profits,'FaceColor',[.9 .85 .7],...
                 'EdgeColor','y',...
                 'LineWidth',2)
  hold off
  

To annotate the graph, use the statements

• set(gca,'XTick',[90:94])
  set(gca,'Layer','top')
  gtext('\leftarrow Sales')
  gtext('Profits')
  gtext('Expenses')
  xlabel('Years','FontSize',14)
  ylabel('Expenses + Profits = Sales in 1,000''s','FontSize',14)
  
  
  

Area Graphs

Pie Charts