1.2.2 Error Bars

The following pair of plot styles allow datapoints to be plotted with errorbars indicating the uncertainties in either their vertical or horizontal positions:

Both of these plot styles take three (or four) columns of input data on 2D (or 3D) plots, the first two (or three) of which represent the $x$-, $y$- (and $z$-)coordinates of the central position of each errorbar, and the last of which represents the uncertainty in either the $x$- and $y$-coordinate. The plot style errorbars is an alias for yerrorbars. Additionally, the following plot style allows datapoints to be plotted with both horizontal and vertical errorbars:

This plot style takes four (or five) columns of data as input, the first two (or three) of which represent the $x$-, $y$- (and $z$-)coordinates of the central position of each errorbar, the last but one of which gives the uncertainty in the $x$-coordinate, and the last of which gives the uncertainty in the $y$-coordinate.

Each of the plot styles listed above has a corresponding partner which takes minimum and maximum limits for each errorbar, equivalent to writing $5^{+2}_{-3}$, in place of a single symmetric uncertainty:

The plot style errorrange is an alias of yerrorrange.

Corresponding plot styles also exist to plot data with errorbars along the $z$-axes of three-dimensional plots: zerrorbars, zerrorrange, xzerrorbars, xzerrorrange, yzerrorbars, yzerrorrange, xyzerrorbars, xyzerrorrange. Though it does not make sense to use these on two-dimensional plots, it is not an error to do so; they expect the same number of columns of input data on both two- and three-dimensional plots.