Re: [ferret_users] remove zero from x-axis

["William S. Kessler" <William.S.Kessler@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Steve -

Your idea of having an axis that includes zero, but setting those  
values to bad, is best. There IS a zero between -1 and 1, and if you  
have no values there, it should be blank.

But I guess I have a hard time with an axis that goes from negative  
values to positive without including zero! Suppose I wanted an axis  
that went from 5 to 10 but omitted 6? You are asking to fundamentally  
change the number line! It is hard to understand what application  
would demand such a radical move. (The changeover from standard to  
daylight savings time is one I can think of. The lack of a year zero  
in the Christian calendar would be another. Both perennial sources of  
discombobulation among otherwise intelligent people.)

If you must have such a plot, one way to do this would be to make 2  
separate plots, one on a -6 to -0.5 axis and axis, and the other on a  
+0.5 to +6 axis. Butt them together, using ppl axset to remove the  
right y-axis from the first and the left y-axis from the second. Then  
you can thoroughly confuse anyone looking at a plot with an axis that  
appears to count incorrectly.

I think you will have a hard time getting this past the reviewers.

Billy K

On Oct 12, 2006, at 8:13 AM, guimond@coaps.fsu.edu wrote:

> Hi Jaison,
>  Thank you for your suggestion.  This procedure basically "whites  
> out" the 0.0, which is good but not ideally what I was looking  
> for.  There is a large gap between -1 and 1 where the "0.0" used to  
> be and that may be interpreted wrongly when someone looks at the  
> graph.  It looks like 0.0 has values associated with it, when in  
> reality it does not exist on my axis.  I may just assign missing  
> values to 0.0, so there is a line of white above 0.0.  Any other  
> suggestions?
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> Quoting Jaison Kurian <jaison@caos.iisc.ernet.in>:
>
> > Hi Steve,
> >          A weird solution to your problem...make a label
> > "0.0" exactly at the postion of X axis 0 in the background
> > color ! Here is an example..
> >
> > For the default plot, the background color is white. So
> > define a new "ppl color" with values "99,99,99" (which
> > is better than using "100,100,100" with most of the file
> > formats)
> >
> >  def axis/x xax={-6,-5,-4,-3,-2,-1,1,2,3,4,5,6}
> >  def axis/y=50:1000:50 yax
> >
> >  let var =sin(x[gx=xax]) + sin(y[gy=yax])
> >
> >  fill/set var
> >    ppl xfor (f4.1)
> >  ppl fill
> >  ppl color 6,99,99,99
> >  label 0,0,0,0,0.10,@C0060.0  ! no space between "@C006" and "0.0"
> >
> > You may have to tune the "Y" value for label to get it at right
> > position.
> >
> > Hope this helps,
> >
> > Jaison
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 11 Oct 2006 guimond@coaps.fsu.edu wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Ferreters,
> > >   I defined an xaxis like so:
> > >
> > > def axis/x xax={-6,-5,-4,-3,-2,-1,1,2,3,4,5,6}
> > >
> > > When I go to plot my data, "0" still shows up on the xaxis which I
> > > would like to remove.  Any ideas?
> > >
> > > Thanks Much,
> > > Steve
> > >
> > > =======================================================
> > > Stephen R. Guimond
> > > Graduate Research Assistant
> > > Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS)
> > > Tallahassee, FL 32304
> > > =======================================================
> > >
> > >
> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William S. Kessler
NOAA / Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle WA 98115 USA

william.s.kessler@noaa.gov
Tel: 206-526-6221
Fax: 206-526-6744
Home page: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/people/kessler/