[R] Histogram Bar Spacing or Border Width

[Henrik Bengtsson]

See http://www.maths.lth.se/help/R/plot.histogram/ and note the note at the
top of the page.

Henrik Bengtsson

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Prof 
> Brian Ripley
> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 10:48 PM
> To: Thomas Hopper
> Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] Histogram Bar Spacing or Border Width
> 
> 
> A hint: hist() does no plotting.  That is done by the 
> "histogram" method 
> of plot(), which you can copy and modify to your own 
> needs/desires. Alternatively you can create myplot() and call
> 
> myplot(hist(..., plot=TRUE), ...)
> 
> On Wed, 9 Feb 2005, Thomas Hopper wrote:
> 
> > I understand the problem from a statistical perspective, 
> and you make 
> > an
> > excellent point (as I have come to expect, reading this 
> list). However, I'm 
> > thinking about it from a visual/aesthetic perspective.
> >
> > Let me try this. Plot two histograms side-by-side:
> >
> >> x <- rnorm(10)
> >> par(mfcol=c(1,2))
> >> hist(x)
> >> hist(x,col="gray",border="gray")
> >
> > Which one is easier to interpret? To my eyes, the default 
> hist() is, 
> > but
> > given the statistical meaning of a histogram, I think I 
> could argue that the 
> > gray version is a more accurate representation of the data.
> >
> > The default histogram delimits the space between subareas 
> to make the 
> > graph
> > easier to read. I'm just trying to tweak this to further 
> improve it. I don't 
> > want to separate the bars so much as control (and, I hope, 
> improve) their 
> > appearance.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > On Feb 9, 2005, at 11:06 AM, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
> >
> >> A histogram is a density estimate (at least as defined in the 
> >> Encyclopedia
> >> of Statistics Sciences, if not in many US Universities).  
> It is an area, 
> >> not a series of unrelated bars, so it makes no sense to 
> have spaces between 
> >> the subareas.
> >> 
> >> Unfortunately, hist() will also produce barplots of counts.
> >> 
> >> On Wed, 9 Feb 2005, Thomas Hopper wrote:
> >> 
> >>> Is there any way to control the spacing between bars in a 
> histogram, 
> >>> or
> >>> change the border width (I'm assuming the hist() function, though 
> >>> alternatives are welcome)? I'm interested in changing the 
> visual spacing 
> >>> between columns in a plotted histogram.
> >>> 
> >>> The general effect I'm looking for can be accomplished in 
> barplots 
> >>> using
> >>> the "width=" parameter, but I have not been able to find 
> a way to adjust 
> >>> the apparent spacing in histograms.
> >> 
> >> -- 
> >> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> >> Professor of Applied Statistics,  
> http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> >> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> >> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> >> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> >> 
> >> 
> > ---
> > In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.
> >
> >
> 
> -- 
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> 
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