# Plot inverse function in pgfplots

pgfplots is not quite comfortable plotting sqrt(x) near x=0. The graphic can be improved by setting samples=2000 (not less), but this seems overkill to me.

Is there a way to plot x as a function of y, while keeping the x axis horizontal and the y axis vertical? This would solve the issue of plotting sqrt(x) by simply replacing it with x=y^2.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

-

You could use a parametrized plot:

## Code:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

-
Great suggestion, thank you! Got me thinking outside of the box :) –  nemarona Sep 16 '12 at 6:57

Just for a comparison purpose how PSTricks does it with swapaxes option.

\documentclass[pstricks,border=12pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pst-plot}

\begin{document}

\begin{pspicture}(-3,-3)(5,5)
\psaxes[linecolor=gray]{->}(0,0)(-3,-3)(5,5)
\parabola[linecolor=blue](2,4)(0,0)
\parabola[linecolor=red,swapaxes](2,4)(0,0)
\end{pspicture}

\end{document}


Note:

\parabola[linecolor=red,swapaxes](2,4)(0,0)


passes through the point (2,4) with a critical point (0,0).

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That's exactly what I was looking for. Is there a way to do the same in pgfplots? –  nemarona Sep 16 '12 at 6:58
@nemarona: If such an option does not exist in pgf/tikz, then you might have to use a transformation (rotation is enough). –  In PSTricks we trust Sep 16 '12 at 8:36
"swap axes" in pgfplots means to use a parametric plot as in the answer of Peter Grill - and exchanging the X and Y expressions manually. –  Christian Feuersänger Sep 16 '12 at 16:59
@ChristianFeuersänger: Thank you for the useful information. –  In PSTricks we trust Sep 16 '12 at 17:01

Use rotation. Here is the minimal code:

\documentclass[tikz,border=12pt]{standalone}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{scope}[rotate=-90]
\draw[domain=-2:2] plot (\x,\x*\x);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

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Rotations are not inverse functions! E.g. y=x –  strpeter Jan 22 at 21:53
@strpeter: Yes of course but nobody knows if you just see the image. –  In PSTricks we trust Mar 20 at 3:04
@strpeter: The problem is that the question is misleading so I just followed what the questioner wanted to get no matter his incorrect usage of the term "inverse function". I understand that inverse function must have a single value for each input. –  In PSTricks we trust Mar 20 at 22:52

I don't quite understand the mathematics side of it, but I often use R to produce my graphics using tikzDevice.

R code (produces tex then graphic):

library(tikzDevice)
tikz('normal.tex', standAlone = TRUE, width=5, height=5)
x <- seq (-50, 50, length = 50)
xx <-x^2
plot(xx, type="l")
dev.off()


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One step more is needed to rotate the graph 90 degree clockwise. –  In PSTricks we trust Sep 16 '12 at 9:08