Plots > XY Plots > Plotting Data > To Plot Data
To Plot Data
When you plot data, it is displayed initially as a line trace. You can change the display by using the options located on the Plots tab. To open the Symbol list or the Line Style list, in the Styles group, click the arrow to the right of Symbol or Line Style, respectively. To open the Change Type list, in the Traces group, click Change Type.
1. In a worksheet, click where you want to create a plot.
2. On the Plots tab, in the Traces group, click Insert Plot and select XY Plot. An empty XY plot region appears.
3. Type the following expressions:
Expression
Description
y-axis
A column vector of y values
x-axis
A column vector of x values
* 
You can replace the vector of x values and/or the vector of y values by a vector of strings that act as labels.
4. Press Enter. A line trace appears.
5. If you want to change the data display, select the trace and then on the Plots tab, select options for one of the following outputs:
Scatter plot—In the Symbol list, select a symbol and then in the Line Style list, select None.
* 
The Line Style and the Symbol options cannot both be set to None at the same time.
Column plot or histogram—In the Change Type list, select Column Trace.
Bar plot—In the Change Type list, select Bar Trace.
Stem plot—In the Change Type list, select Stem Trace.
Additional Information
You can use the hist or histogram functions to bin or separate the data.
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