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<center><h1>Line plot with log scale</h1></center>
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<center><p style="max-width: 600px; margin-top: 40px">This post explaines how to build a line chart with a log scale for its Y axis, using the <code>scale_y_log10</code> function.</p></center>
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<p>It is sometimes useful to use a log scale for a numeric variable. Indeed, it allows to “magnify” the lower part of the curve.</p>
<p>This is possible thanks to the <code>scale_y_log10()</code> function. Control the horizontal grid lines with <code>breaks</code>, and the axis limits with <code>limits</code>. (Note that 0 is not allowed, since log(0) is not defined.)</p>
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<div class="sourceCode"><pre class="sourceCode r"><code class="sourceCode r"><span class="co"># Library</span>
<span class="kw">library</span>(ggplot2)
<span class="co"># Create dummy data</span>
data <-<span class="st"> </span><span class="kw">data.frame</span>(
<span class="dt">x=</span><span class="kw">seq</span>(<span class="dv">10</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>),
<span class="dt">y=</span><span class="kw">seq</span>(<span class="dv">10</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>)<span class="op">/</span><span class="dv">2</span><span class="op">+</span><span class="kw">rnorm</span>(<span class="dv">90</span>)
)
<span class="co"># Make the plot</span>
<span class="kw">ggplot</span>(data, <span class="kw">aes</span>(<span class="dt">x=</span>x, <span class="dt">y=</span>y)) <span class="op">+</span>
<span class="st"> </span><span class="kw">geom_line</span>() <span class="op">+</span>
<span class="st"> </span><span class="kw">scale_y_log10</span>( <span class="dt">breaks=</span><span class="kw">c</span>(<span class="dv">1</span>,<span class="dv">5</span>,<span class="dv">10</span>,<span class="dv">15</span>,<span class="dv">20</span>,<span class="dv">50</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>), <span class="dt">limits=</span><span class="kw">c</span>(<span class="dv">1</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>) )</code></pre></div>
<h1 id="without-log-transform">Without log transform</h1>
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<p>This is the same chart without the log transform:</p>
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<p><img src="line-plot-log-scale_files/figure-html/thecode2-1.png" width="100%" /></p>
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<div class="sourceCode"><pre class="sourceCode r"><code class="sourceCode r"><span class="co"># Library</span>
<span class="kw">library</span>(ggplot2)
<span class="co"># Create dummy data</span>
data <-<span class="st"> </span><span class="kw">data.frame</span>(
<span class="dt">x=</span><span class="kw">seq</span>(<span class="dv">10</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>),
<span class="dt">y=</span><span class="kw">seq</span>(<span class="dv">10</span>,<span class="dv">100</span>)<span class="op">/</span><span class="dv">2</span><span class="op">+</span><span class="kw">rnorm</span>(<span class="dv">90</span>)
)
<span class="co"># Make the plot</span>
<span class="kw">ggplot</span>(data, <span class="kw">aes</span>(<span class="dt">x=</span>x, <span class="dt">y=</span>y)) <span class="op">+</span>
<span class="st"> </span><span class="kw">geom_line</span>() </code></pre></div>
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