Defining your own variables

GnuPlot allows you to define your own constants and functions. To define a constant, just use

constant_name = expression

For example,

w = 2
q= sin(w/2)

This could be useful for changing a constant in an expression, for example,

c = 3
plot sin(c*x)
c=4
replot

The replot command would change the graph to reflect the new constant. Note that you cannot overlay graphs of the same function using differant values for a constant. The replot command reevaluates the function, so it will always use the current value of a variable. For instance, the preceding example would just plot the graph of sin(4*x). If you wanted to overlay graphs with two differant constants, you would need to use two differant constants, i.e.,

c1=3
c2=4
plot sin(c1*x)
replot sin(c2*x)

. This would produce the following graph

You could then change any of the constants and just replot to see the effects of changing the constant.

Defining your own functions

The syntax for defining your own functions is as follows:

function-name(parameters) = expression

Here are some simple examples:

sinc(x) = sin(pi*x)/(pi*x)
len3d(x,y,z) = sqrt(x*x+y*y+z*z)
myfunc(x,y) = (1+ x**2 + (2/3)*y**2)/(sin(x*45*y)+ exp(-1*(x*y*(-1/3))))

You can use these functions like any other functions in GnuPlot,

plot sinc(x)

print len3d(2,3,4)

splot myfunc(x,y)

Using Condition Statements in Function Definitions

It is possible to define piece-wise function is GnuPlot. Gnuplot uses the if statement syntax of C. For instance, you could define your own absolute value function by the following:

myabs(x) = (x > 0) ? x : -x

Gnuplot first evaluates the expression in the parenthesis. If it is true, it then performs the expressions after the "?" mark. If the expression in the parenthesis is false, it evalues the expression after the ":". You can also define more complex piece-wise functions by nesting the if statements. For example,

mypiecewise(x) = (x > 2) ? 2 : ((x < -2) ? -2 : x)
plot mypiecewise(x)

produces the following graph:

For more examples, see help user-defined

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