Plt.subplots with rows and columns in Matplotlib - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What does plt.subplots(rows, cols) do in matplotlib?

It creates a figure and a grid of subplots arranged in the specified number of rows and columns. You get a figure object and an array of axes to plot on.

beginner

How do you access the subplot in the second row and first column when using plt.subplots(2, 3)?

You access it with axes[1, 0] because indexing starts at 0 and axes is a 2D array of shape (2, 3).

beginner

What type of object is returned by plt.subplots()?

It returns a tuple: (figure, axes). figure is the whole drawing area, and axes is either a single Axes object or an array of Axes objects.

beginner

How can you create a 1-row, 3-column subplot layout?

Use fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3). This creates one row with three columns of plots side by side.

beginner

What happens if you create subplots with plt.subplots(1, 1)?

You get a single Axes object, not an array. So you can use it directly without indexing.

What does plt.subplots(2, 2) return?

A Only a figure object

B A figure and a 2x2 array of Axes objects

C Only a list of plots

D A figure and a single Axes object

plt.subplots(2, 2) returns a figure and a 2x2 array of Axes objects for plotting.

How do you plot on the subplot in the first row, second column of plt.subplots(3, 3)?

A axes[0, 2]

B axes[1, 0]

C axes[1, 1]

D axes[0, 1]

Indexing starts at 0, so first row is 0 and second column is 1, so axes[0, 1].

If you create subplots with plt.subplots(1, 1), what type is axes?

A A single Axes object

B A list

C A 2D array

D None

With one row and one column, axes is a single Axes object, not an array.

What is the shape of axes when you run fig, axes = plt.subplots(4, 1)?

A (4, 1) array

B (1, 4) array

C Single Axes object

D List of 4 figures

axes is a 1D array of length 4, not a 2D array, when one dimension is 1.

Which command creates a 2-row, 3-column grid of plots?

A plt.subplots(3, 2)

B plt.subplots(1, 6)

C plt.subplots(2, 3)

D plt.subplots(6, 1)

plt.subplots(2, 3) creates 2 rows and 3 columns.

Explain how to create a grid of subplots with 2 rows and 3 columns using matplotlib and how to access the subplot in the second row, third column.

Remember indexing starts at 0 for rows and columns.

Describe what happens when you create subplots with plt.subplots(1, 1) and how it differs from creating multiple subplots.

Think about the shape and type of axes returned.