pgfplots to plot a function from [4,4.001]

Question

When I try to plot a function on a small range, the output is an empty graph from 0 to 1 on the x and y axis. What can I do to fix this? My tex looks like this:

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
xmin=4.0,
xmax=4.001,
samples=60,
xlabel=$time$,
ylabel={$acceleration$}
] 

\addplot [very thick, blue] {5*x-x^2}; 
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

Answer 1

You can rescale the calculation:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
xmin=0,
xmax=1,
samples=60,
xlabel=$time$,
xticklabel=\pgfmathparse{4+\tick/1000}\pgfmathresult,
ylabel={$acceleration$}
] 

\addplot [very thick, blue] {5*(4+x/1000)-(4+x/1000)^2}; 
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 2

The problem here is that the function isn't evaluated within the axis range. The standard domain is -5:5 (this is not changed by setting xmin and xmax), so with 60 samples, the function is evaluated at 3.98 and 4.15. If you set the domain=4:4.001 (so equal to the visible range set using xmin and xmax), the data is plotted correctly without any manual coordinate transformations:

\documentclass[border=5mm]{standalone}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
compat=newest,
samples=60,
xmin=4.0, xmax=4.001,
domain=4:4.001,
xlabel=Time $t$,
ylabel=Acceleration $a$,
ticklabel style={ % Make sure all relevant digits are printed
    /pgf/number format/.cd,
        fixed,
        fixed zerofill,
        precision=4
}
] 

\addplot [very thick, blue] {5*x-x^2}; 
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}