How to use GNU Plot to plot diagrams in TexShop

Question

hope anyone can help with this... I have a very basic knowledge of TeXShop, but I need to plot some functions on it, say y=x. I learnt that this can be done by installing GNU Plot and writing in TeXShop

\begin{tikzpicture}[domain=0:4]
    \draw[->] (-0.2,0) -- (4.2,0) node[right] {$x$};
    \draw[->] (0,-1.2) -- (0,4.2) node[above] {$f(x)$};
    \draw[color=black] plot[id=x] function{x} 
        node[right] {$f(x) =x$};
\end{tikzpicture}

So I have downloaded GNU Plot and dragged it from the disk image to applications. I don't know how to use it but it's there. However when I run the above in TeXShop only the axis and labels pop up, but no function!

I have read many sites now, but it all seems too complicated for me - can anyone help?

Answer 1

Here is what I did to get gnuplot working on a Mac. (You need to use the Terminal for this.)

Goto GNU Plot on Sourceforge and download the source code. This should unzip in a folder gnuplot-4.6.0 in your Downloads folder.

Open a Terminal window and issue the following commands: (hit the return key after each; the last three commands will produce quite a bit of terminal output and you'll need to wait for them to be done before issuing the next command.)

cd ~/Downloads/gnuplot-4.6.0
./configure
make
sudo make install

This will correctly install GNUPlot on your machine.

Now in TeXShop, you can make a simple document:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[domain=0:4] 
    \draw[->] (-0.2,0) -- (4.2,0) node[right] {$x$}; 
    \draw[->] (0,-1.2) -- (0,4.2) node[above] {$f(x)$}; 
    \draw[color=black] plot[id=x] function{x} node[right] {$f(x) =x$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}[domain=0:4] 
    \draw[very thin,color=gray] (-0.1,-1.1) grid (3.9,3.9);
    \draw[->] (-0.2,0) -- (4.2,0) node[right] {$x$}; 
    \draw[->] (0,-1.2) -- (0,4.2) node[above] {$f(x)$};
    \draw[color=red] plot[id=x] function{x} node[right] {$f(x) =x$};
    \draw[color=blue] plot[id=sin] function{sin(x)} node[right] {$f(x) = \sin x$}; 
    \draw[color=orange] 
        plot[id=exp] function{0.05*exp(x)} node[right] {$f(x) = \frac{1}{20} \mathrm e^x$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Run this with TeXShop. You should get the following output:

Answer 2

Using OSX Mountain Lion you have to install aquaterm and X11 or Xquartz first.