lsline

Add least-squares line to scatter plot

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Syntax

lsline
lsline(ax)
h = lsline(___)

Description

lsline superimposes a least-squares line on each scatter plot in the current axes.

lsline ignores data points that are connected with solid, dashed, or dash-dot lines ('-', '--', or '.-') because it does not consider them to be scatter plots. To produce scatter plots, use the MATLAB® scatter and plot functions.

example

lsline(ax) superimposes a least-squares line on the scatter plot in the axes specified by ax instead of the current axes (gca).

example

h = lsline(___) returns a column vector of least-squares line objects h using any of the previous syntaxes. Use h to modify the properties of a specific least-squares line after you create it. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

example

Examples

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Open Live Script

Generate three sets of sample data and plot each set on the same figure.

x = 1:10;
rng default;  % For reproducibility
figure;

y1 = x + randn(1,10);
scatter(x,y1,25,'b','*')
hold on

y2 = 2*x + randn(1,10);
plot(x,y2,'mo')

y3 = 3*x + randn(1,10);
plot(x,y3,'rx:')

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains 3 objects of type scatter, line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers

Add a least-squares line for each set of sample data.

lsline

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains 6 objects of type scatter, line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers

Open Live Script

Define the x-variable and two different y-variables to use for the plots.

rng default  % For reproducibility
x = 1:10;
y1 = x + randn(1,10);
y2 = 2*x + randn(1,10);

Define ax1 as the top half of the figure, and ax2 as the bottom half of the figure. Create the first scatter plot on the top axis using y1, and the second scatter plot on the bottom axis using y2.

figure
ax1 = subplot(2,1,1);
ax2 = subplot(2,1,2);

scatter(ax1,x,y1)
scatter(ax2,x,y2)

Figure contains 2 axes objects. Axes object 1 contains an object of type scatter. Axes object 2 contains an object of type scatter.

Superimpose a least-squares line on the top plot, and a reference line at the mean of the y2 values in the bottom plot.

lsline(ax1) % This is equivalent to refline(ax1)

mu = mean(y2);
refline(ax2,[0 mu])

Figure contains 2 axes objects. Axes object 1 contains 2 objects of type scatter, line. Axes object 2 contains 2 objects of type scatter, line.

Open Live Script

Define the x-variable and two different y-variables to use for the plots.

rng default  % For reproducibility
x = 1:10;
y1 = x + randn(1,10);
y2 = 2*x + randn(1,10);

Define ax1 as the top half of the figure, and ax2 as the bottom half of the figure. Create the first scatter plot on the top axis using y1, and the second scatter plot on the bottom axis using y2.

figure
ax1 = subplot(2,1,1);
ax2 = subplot(2,1,2);

scatter(ax1,x,y1)
scatter(ax2,x,y2)

Superimpose a least-squares line on the top plot. Then, use the least-squares line object h1 to change the line color to red.

h1 = lsline(ax1);
h1.Color = 'r';

Superimpose a least-squares line on the bottom plot. Then, use the least-squares line object h2 to increase the line width to 5.

h2 = lsline(ax2);
h2.LineWidth = 5;

Figure contains 2 axes objects. Axes object 1 contains 2 objects of type scatter, line. Axes object 2 contains 2 objects of type scatter, line.

Input Arguments

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Target axes, specified as an axes object. If you do not specify the axes and if the current axes are Cartesian axes, then the lsline function uses the current axes.

Output Arguments

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One or more least-squares line objects, returned as a scalar or a vector. These objects are unique identifiers, which you can use to query and modify properties of a specific least-squares line. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

See Also

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