Seaborn figure-level vs axes-level in Matplotlib - Quick Revision & Key Differences

Recall & Review

beginner

What is a figure-level function in Seaborn?

A figure-level function creates a whole figure with its own axes and manages the layout automatically. It returns a FacetGrid object that can handle multiple subplots.

beginner

What is an axes-level function in Seaborn?

An axes-level function draws a plot on a single matplotlib Axes object. It does not create a new figure or manage layout, so you can combine multiple plots manually.

beginner

Name one example of a figure-level function and one example of an axes-level function in Seaborn.

Figure-level example: sns.catplot() <br> Axes-level example: sns.boxplot()

intermediate

Why would you choose a figure-level function over an axes-level function?

Use figure-level functions when you want Seaborn to handle the whole figure, including multiple subplots and layout, especially for complex visualizations with facets.

intermediate

How can you combine multiple axes-level plots into one figure?

You create a matplotlib figure and axes manually, then call axes-level functions on each axes to draw multiple plots in the same figure.

Which Seaborn function type automatically creates a figure and manages layout?

A Matplotlib function

B Axes-level function

C Pandas plotting function

D Figure-level function

Figure-level functions create the entire figure and handle layout automatically.

Which of these is an axes-level function in Seaborn?

A sns.boxplot()

B sns.catplot()

C sns.relplot()

D sns.pairplot()

sns.boxplot() draws on a single axes and does not create a new figure.

If you want to create multiple subplots with facets, which function type should you use?

A Matplotlib scatter

B Axes-level function

C Figure-level function

D Pandas plot

Figure-level functions support facets and multiple subplots automatically.

What does an axes-level function require you to do if you want multiple plots?

A Nothing, it manages layout automatically

B Create matplotlib axes manually and plot on each

C Use pandas plotting instead

D Create multiple figures manually

Axes-level functions need manual axes creation to combine multiple plots.

Which object does a figure-level function return?

A FacetGrid

B matplotlib Axes

C DataFrame

D numpy array

Figure-level functions return a FacetGrid object to manage the figure and subplots.

Explain the difference between Seaborn figure-level and axes-level functions with examples.

Think about who manages the figure and layout.

Describe how you would create a figure with multiple plots using axes-level functions.

Remember axes-level functions do not create figures automatically.