PlotFdist: Frequency Distribution Plot

Description

This function is designed to give a univariate graphic representation of a numeric vector's frequency distribution. It combines a histogram, a density curve, a boxplot and a plot of the empirical cumulative distribution function (ecdf) in one single plot, resulting in a dense and informative picture of the facts. Still the function remains flexible as all possible arguments can be passed to the single components (hist, boxplot etc.) by list (see examples).

Usage

PlotFdist(x, main = deparse(substitute(x)), xlab = "", xlim = NULL,
          do.hist = !(all(IsWhole(x, na.rm = TRUE)) & length(unique(na.omit(x))) < 13),
          args.hist = NULL, args.rug = NA, args.dens = NULL,
          args.boxplot = NULL, args.ecdf = NULL, heights = NULL,
          pdist = c(0,0), na.rm = FALSE)

Arguments

the numerical variable, whose distribution is to be plotted.

main

main title of the plot.

xlab

label of the x-axis, defaults to "". (The name of the variable is typically placed in the main title and would be redundant.)

xlim

range of the x-axis, defaults to a pretty range(x, na.rm = TRUE).

do.hist

defines, whether a histogram or a plot with type = "h" should be used. Default is TRUE (meaning a histogram will be plotted), unless x is an integer with less than 13 unique values!

args.hist

list of additional arguments to be passed to the histogram hist(), ignored if do.hist = FALSE. The defaults chosen when setting args.hist = NULL are more or less the same as in h

args.rug

list of additional arguments to be passed to the function rug(). Use args.rug = NA if no rug should be added. This is the default. Use args.rug = NULL to add rug with reasonable default values.

args.dens

list of additional arguments to be passed to density(). Use args.dens = NA if no density curve should be drawn. The defaults are taken from density.

args.boxplot

list of additional arguments to be passed to the boxplot boxplot(). The defaults are pretty much the same as in boxplot.

args.ecdf

list of additional arguments to be passed to ecdf(). Use args.ecdf = NA if no empirical cumulation function should be included in the plot. The defaults are taken from plot.ecdf

heights

heights of the plotparts, defaults to c(2,0.5,1.4) for the histogram, the boxplot 
  and the empirical cumulative distribution function, resp. to c(2,1.5) for a histogram and a boxplot only.

pdist

distances of the plotparts, defaults to c(0, 0), say there will be no distance between the histogram, the boxplot and the ecdf-plot. This can be changed for instance in case that the xaxis is to 
  be added to the histogram.

na.rm

logical, should NAs be omitted? Histogram and boxplot could do without this option,
  but the density-function refuses to plot with missings. Defaults to FALSE.

`See Also`

hist, boxplot, ecdf, density, rug, layout

`Examples`

Run this code# create a new window and do the plot 
PlotFdist(x=d.pizza$delivery_min, na.rm=TRUE)

# define additional arguments for hist and dens
PlotFdist(d.pizza$delivery_min, args.hist=list(breaks=50), 
  args.dens=list(col="olivedrab4"), na.rm=TRUE )

# do a "h"-plot instead of a histogram for integers 
PlotFdist(d.pizza$weekday, na.rm=TRUE)

# special arguments for ecdf
PlotFdist(x=faithful$eruptions, args.ecdf=list(verticals=FALSE, 
  do.points=TRUE, cex=1.2, pch=16, lwd=1), args.rug=NULL)

# no density curve, no ecdf but add rug instead, make boxplot a bit higher
PlotFdist(x=d.pizza$delivery_min, na.rm=TRUE, args.dens=NA, args.ecdf=NA, 
  args.hist=list(xaxt="s"),  # display x-axis on the histogram
  args.rug=TRUE, heights=c(3, 2.5), pdist=2.5, main="Delivery time")

# alpha channel on rug is cool, but take its time for being drawn...
PlotFdist(x=d.pizza$temperature, args.rug=list(col=SetAlpha("black", 0.1)), na.rm=TRUE)
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