# plotSetYTicCount¶

## Purpose¶

Controls the number of major ticks on the y-axis of a 2-D plot.

## Format¶

plotSetYTicCount(&myPlot, num_ticks)
Parameters: &myPlot (struct pointer) – A plotControl structure pointer. num_ticks (scalar) – the number of major ticks to place on the y-axis.

## Examples¶

// Create some data to plot
x = seqa(-3, 0.1, 61);
y = x.^3 + rndn(rows(x), 1);

// Plot the data
plotXY(x, y);


5 tick marks

will produce a graph that looks similar to the one above, with 5 major tick marks on the y-axis. If we use 11 tick marks, there will be one major tick for 0.2 on the y-axis. We can make that change like this:

// Declare and initialize plotControl structure
struct plotControl myPlot;
myPlot = plotGetDefaults("xy");

// Set the y-axis to have 11 tick marks
plotSetYTicCount(&myPlot, 11);

// Plot the data, using the plotControl structure
plotXY(myPlot, x, y);


11 tick marks

## Remarks¶

Note that plotSeTYticCount() does not provide complete control over the y-axis ticks. If the number of y-ticks requested would cause an odd tick interval, GAUSS will create a number of ticks that will provide more even spacing. For instance, in the example above, 11 ticks gave a space between ticks of 0.2. If we chose 10 ticks, the spacing between ticks would be 0.222. In that case, GAUSS would instead draw 10 ticks for a more even appearance.

This function sets an attribute in a plotControl structure. It does not affect an existing graph, or a new graph drawn using the default settings that are accessible from the Tools > Preferences > Graphics menu. See the GAUSS Graphics chapter for more information on the methods available for customizing your graphs.