Figure size for publication in Matplotlib - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Figure size for publication

📖 Scenario: You are preparing a graph to include in a scientific paper. The journal requires figures to be exactly 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall for consistent formatting.

🎯 Goal: Create a matplotlib plot with the exact figure size required by the journal, then display a simple line plot.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a figure with size 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall using matplotlib

Plot a simple line graph with points (1, 1), (2, 4), (3, 9)

Display the plot

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Researchers and scientists often need to prepare figures that fit exact size requirements for journals or presentations.

💼 Career

Knowing how to control figure size and create clear plots is essential for data scientists and analysts who share visual results.

1

Create the data points

Create two lists called x and y with values [1, 2, 3] and [1, 4, 9] respectively.

Matplotlib

# Create lists x and y with the given values
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets to create lists. For example, x = [1, 2, 3].

2

Set the figure size

Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt and create a figure with size 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall using plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4)).

Matplotlib

x = [1, 2, 3]
y = [1, 4, 9]

# Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt and create a figure with size (6, 4)
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use import matplotlib.pyplot as plt to import, then plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4)) to set size.

3

Plot the line graph

Use plt.plot(x, y) to plot the line graph with the data points.

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3]
y = [1, 4, 9]

plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4))

# Plot the line graph using plt.plot(x, y)
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use plt.plot(x, y) to draw the line connecting the points.

4

Display the plot

Use plt.show() to display the plot on the screen.

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 2, 3]
y = [1, 4, 9]

plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4))
plt.plot(x, y)

# Display the plot using plt.show()
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Call plt.show() to open the plot window.