4

I have this code

    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \def\a{5}
    \draw[->] (-\a,0) -- (+\a,0);
    \draw[->] (0,-\a) -- (0,+\a);
    \draw[thick, red,  samples=100, domain=-.7:3.2] plot ({\x},{ \x*\x*(1-\x)*(3-\x) });   
    \def\E{2}
    \draw[thick, green] (-\a,\E) -- (+\a,\E) node[xshift=0.5cm] {$ E $};
    \end{tikzpicture}

and I have this output

enter image description here

How to limit the codomain range?

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6

There is a dedicated plotting package built on tikz namely, pgfplots. One implementation of your plot in that could be:

Sample output

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[domain=-.7:3.2, ymin=-1, ymax=1,
    axis x line=middle, axis y line=middle, ticks=none,
    enlarge x limits={rel=0.07}]
    \addplot[thick, red, samples=100] {(x*x*(1-x)*(3-x))};
    \addplot[green] {(.5)} node[right]{$E$};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

You can move the codomain restrictions to just the one function, but putting them as options to the \addplot command, but you have to use the option

restrict y to domain=-1:1

and to get the cut-off right in your example you then have to increase the number of samples:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[domain=-.7:3.2,
    axis x line=middle, axis y line=middle, ticks=none,
    enlarge x limits={rel=0.07}]
    \addplot[thick, red, samples=5000, restrict y to domain=-1:1] {(x*x*(1-x)*(3-x))};
    \addplot[green] {(.5)} node[right]{$E$};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

If you want to control the axis lengths precisely, use xmin/xmax/ymin/ymax and adjust the domains on the individual plots:

Second sample

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.15}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}[xmin=-5, xmax=5, ymin=-1.2, ymax=1.2,
    axis x line=middle, axis y line=middle, ticks=none]
    \addplot[thick, red, samples=5000,
      domain=-.7:3.2, restrict y to domain=-1:1] {(x*x*(1-x)*(3-x))};
    \addplot[domain=-5:4.2, green] {(.5)} node[right]{$E$};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}
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11
  • restrict y to domain=a:b is probably more what the OP wants. – Torbjørn T. Oct 19 '17 at 8:53
  • @TorbjørnT. I used that initially, but found it was clipping at the wrong places, perhaps because it requires more samples... – Andrew Swann Oct 19 '17 at 8:56
  • True, that can be a problem. – Torbjørn T. Oct 19 '17 at 8:58
  • So there is no way to restric only the plot of the function? – Andrea Leo Oct 19 '17 at 9:12
  • Yes, just put the options (either restrict y to domain or ymin/ymax) in the \addplot command rather than the axis, if that is what you want. – Andrew Swann Oct 19 '17 at 10:13
3

\clip? The purpose of the scope environment is to localize the effect of the \clip.

output of code

\documentclass[border=5mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \def\a{5}
  \def\E{2}
  \draw[->] (-\a,0) -- (+\a,0);
  \draw[->] (0,-\a) -- (0,+\a);
  \begin{scope}
    \clip (-\a,-\a) rectangle (\a,\E);
    \draw[thick, red,  samples=100, domain=-.7:3.2] plot ({\x},{ \x*\x*(1-\x)*(3-\x) });
  \end{scope}
  \draw[thick, green] (-\a,\E) -- (+\a,\E) node[xshift=0.5cm] {$ E $};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Improve this answer
3
  • Thank you but I prefer some solution like \draw[thick, red, samples=100, domain=-.7:3.2, codomain = somerange: somerange] – Andrea Leo Oct 19 '17 at 8:41
  • @AndreaLeo pgfplots (see Andrew's answer) and its restrict y to domain key perhaps. I don't know at the moment how to do that, though others might come up with something. – Torbjørn T. Oct 19 '17 at 8:56
  • @AndreaLeo You could always wrap the scope, \clip and \draw into one \newcommand, if you must do this in one line of code. – Torbjørn T. Oct 19 '17 at 10:09

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