Plotting the chi square distribution with TikZ

Question

I have tried without success to plot the curve of the chi-squared distribution. Is there a generous soul who can come to my rescue.

Answer 1

If you can access gnuplot, you can try this. This is an adapted version of a gnuplot demo file.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[%
    xlabel = $x$,
    ylabel = {Probability density},
    samples = 200,
    restrict y to domain = 0:0.5,
    domain = 0.01:15]
    \foreach \k in {0,...,8} {%
      \addplot+[mark={}] gnuplot[raw gnuplot] {%
        isint(x) = (int(x)==x);
        log2 = 0.693147180559945;
        chisq(x,k)=k<=0||!isint(k)?1/0:x<=0?0.0:exp((0.5*k-1.0)*log(x)-0.5*x-lgamma(0.5*k)-k*0.5*log2);
        set xrange [1.00000e-10:15.0000];
        set yrange [0.00000:0.500000];
        samples=200;
        plot chisq(x,\k)};
    \addlegendentryexpanded{$k = \k$}}
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 2

if you can use PSTricks, then it is easy. Run the example with xelatex

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{pst-plot,pst-func}    
\begin{document}

\psset{xunit=1.2cm,yunit=10cm,plotpoints=200}
\begin{pspicture*}(-0.75,-0.05)(9.5,.65)
\multido{\rnue=0.5+0.5,\iblue=0+10}{10}{%
  \psChiIIDist[linewidth=1pt,linecolor=blue!\iblue,nue=\rnue]{0.01}{9}}
\psaxes[Dy=0.1,ticksize=0 3pt]{->}(0,0)(9.5,.6)
\end{pspicture*}

\end{document}