Here we show how to scale a plot’s axis, including log scale, and set axis limits in R.

Some Arguments for Scaling Axes & Setting Axes Limits in R
Argument	Usage
log = "x"	Log scale of the x-axis
log = "y"	Log scale of the y-axis
log = "xy"	Log scale of both axis
xlim = c(a, b)	Setting x-axis limits from a to b
ylim = c(a, b)	Setting y-axis limits from a to b

1 Scaling of Plot Axis to Log Scale in R

The following examples show the scaling of both the x-axis and the y-axis.

x = (1:20)*100
y = (1:20)*100

par(mfrow = c(2,2))

# Normal Scales
plot(x, y, main = "Normal Scale",
     xlab = "X", ylab = "Y")

# X-axis to log scale
plot(x, y, main = "X-axis to Log Scale",
     log = "x",
     xlab = "Log X", ylab = "Y")

# Y-axis to log scale
plot(x, y, main = "Y-axis to Log Scale",
     log = "y",
     xlab = "X", ylab = "Log Y")

# X-axis and Y-axis to log scale
plot(x, y, main = "X-axis and Y-axis to Log Scale",
     log = "xy",
     xlab = "Log X", ylab = "Log Y")

Scaling of Plot Axis to Log Scale in R

2 Setting Axis Limits in R

The following examples show the setting of limits of both the x-axis and the y-axis.

Histdata = rnorm(1000)

par(mfrow = c(2,2))

# Plot 1
hist(Histdata, main = "Plot 1")

# Plot 2
hist(Histdata, main = "Plot 2",
     xlim = c(-4, 4),
     ylim = c(0, 300))

# Plot 3
hist(Histdata, main = "Plot 3",
     xlim = c(-2, 2),
     ylim = c(0, 400))

Setting Axis Limits in R

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Scaling and Setting Limits of Plot Axis in R

1 Scaling of Plot Axis to Log Scale in R

2 Setting Axis Limits in R