A simple line plot in LyX

Question

I am a LyX user and I would like to use a line plot in one of my papers. This is simply a line with few identified points. For me the points of interest are 24, 32 and 38. Could you please tell what is the easiest way to accomplish this? I have heard about the packaged pgfplots but I do not know how to use it. It also seems an overkill for my case.

All suggestions are welcome, thank you in advance.

Yes, pgfplots is probably the best way to do that. But not sure what 24, 32 and 38 represent. Are those points on a number line? — Peter Grill, Nov 17 '14 at 20:38
@PeterGrill Imagine points on a line. There is no need for a vertical axis. The point is to show how far they all lie from each other in just 1 dimension. — JohnK, Nov 17 '14 at 20:39

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:32

You can use tikz for simple drawings such as this:

enter image description here

If you are doing these types of figure often, then it makes sense to wrap them in a macro where you can define

#1 = the start value,
#2 = end value, and the
#3 = list of points to mark.

Then,

\DrawNumberLine{18}{42}{24,32,38}
\DrawNumberLine{0}{50}{24,32,38}
\DrawNumberLine{0}{25}{2,7,12,20,22}

yields:

enter image description here

Code: Basic Version

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\tikzset{tick style/.style={thick, black}}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.5]
\draw [thin, gray, -latex] (18,0) -- (42,0);
\foreach \Tick in {20,25,...,40} {
    \draw [tick style] (\Tick,1.5ex) -- (\Tick,-1.5ex) node [below] {$\Tick$} ;
}
\foreach \X in {24, 32, 38} {
    \draw [fill=red] (\X,0) circle (4pt) node [above, blue] {$\X$};
}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Code: Macro Version

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
%\usepackage{showframe}
\tikzset{number line style/.style={thin, gray, -latex}}
\tikzset{tick style/.style={thick, black}}
%% http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/175507/scale-tikzpicture-to-enclosing-minipage
\newcommand{\MyScale}{1}%
\newcommand{\MyResizeBox}[2]{%
    % #1 = width
    % #2 = tikzpicture
    \renewcommand{\MyScale}{1}%
    \sbox0{#2}%
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\MyScale}{0.98#1/\wd0}%
    #2%
}%
\newcommand{\TickStep}{5}
\newcommand{\DrawNumberLine}[3]{%
    % #1 = x min
    % #2 = x max
    % #3 = comma separated list of points to show
    \MyResizeBox{\linewidth}{%
        \noindent
        \begin{tikzpicture}[x=\MyScale cm, y=1cm]
            \draw [number line style] (#1,0) -- (#2,0);
            \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\TickStart}{\TickStepint(#1/\TickStep)}%
            \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\TickEnd}{\TickStepint(#2/\TickStep -1)}%
            \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\NumOfTicks}{1+(\TickEnd-\TickStart)/\TickStep}%
            \foreach \Tick in {1,...,\NumOfTicks} {
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\CurrentTick}{\TickStart+\Tick*\TickStep}%
                \draw [tick style] (\CurrentTick,0.5ex) -- (\CurrentTick,-0.5ex) 
                    node [below] {\tiny$\CurrentTick$} ;
            }
            \foreach \X in {#3} {
                \draw [fill=red] (\X,0) circle (2pt) 
                    node [above, blue] {\tiny$\X$};
            }
        \end{tikzpicture}%
    }%
}
\begin{document}
\DrawNumberLine{18}{42}{24,32,38}%
\medskip\par
\DrawNumberLine{0}{50}{24,32,38}%
\medskip\par
\DrawNumberLine{0}{25}{2,7,12,20,22}%
\end{document}

Works wonderfully, thank you very much. There is plenty for me to learn, this is an amazing package. — JohnK, Nov 17 '14 at 20:51

A simple line plot in LyX

1 Answers1

Code: Basic Version

Code: Macro Version