Lattice: multiple plots in one window? - r

I'm trying to put multiple lattice plots in one window using levelplot by setting par(mfrow=c(2,1)) but it seems to be ignoring this.
Is there a particular function for setting multiple plots in lattice?


The 'lattice' package is built on the grid package and attaches its namespace when 'lattice' loaded. However, in order to use the grid.layout function, you need to explicitly load() pkg::grid. The other alternative, that is probably easier, is the grid.arrange function in pkg::gridExtra:
install.packages("gridExtra")
require(gridExtra) # also loads grid
require(lattice)
x <- seq(pi/4, 5 * pi, length.out = 100)
y <- seq(pi/4, 5 * pi, length.out = 100)
r <- as.vector(sqrt(outer(x^2, y^2, "+")))
grid <- expand.grid(x=x, y=y)
grid$z <- cos(r^2) * exp(-r/(pi^3))
plot1 <- levelplot(z~x*y, grid, cuts = 50, scales=list(log="e"), xlab="",
ylab="", main="Weird Function", sub="with log scales",
colorkey = FALSE, region = TRUE)
plot2 <- levelplot(z~x*y, grid, cuts = 50, scales=list(log="e"), xlab="",
ylab="", main="Weird Function", sub="with log scales",
colorkey = FALSE, region = TRUE)
grid.arrange(plot1,plot2, ncol=2)


The Lattice Package often (but not always) ignores the par command, so i just avoid using it when plotting w/ Lattice.
To place multiple lattice plots on a single page:
create (but don't plot) the lattice/trellis plot objects, then
call print once for each plot
for each print call, pass in arguments for (i) the plot; (ii)
more, set to TRUE, and which is only passed in for the initial call to print, and (iii) pos, which gives the position of each plot on the page specified as x-y coordinate pairs for the plot's lower left-hand corner and upper right-hand
corner, respectively--ie, a vector with four numbers.
much easier to show than to tell:
data(AirPassengers) # a dataset supplied with base R
AP = AirPassengers # re-bind to save some typing
# split the AP data set into two pieces
# so that we have unique data for each of the two plots
w1 = window(AP, start=c(1949, 1), end=c(1952, 1))
w2 = window(AP, start=c(1952, 1), end=c(1960, 12))
px1 = xyplot(w1)
px2 = xyplot(w2)
# arrange the two plots vertically
print(px1, position=c(0, .6, 1, 1), more=TRUE)
print(px2, position=c(0, 0, 1, .4))


This is simple to do once you read ?print.trellis. Of particular interest is the split parameter. It may seem complicated at first sight, but it's quite straightforward once you understand what it means. From the documentation:
split: a vector of 4 integers, c(x,y,nx,ny), that says to position the current plot at the x,y position in a regular array of nx by ny plots. (Note: this has origin at top left)
You can see a couple of implementations on example(print.trellis), but here's one that I prefer:
library(lattice)
# Data
w <- as.matrix(dist(Loblolly))
x <- as.matrix(dist(HairEyeColor))
y <- as.matrix(dist(rock))
z <- as.matrix(dist(women))
# Plot assignments
pw <- levelplot(w, scales = list(draw = FALSE)) # "scales..." removes axes
px <- levelplot(x, scales = list(draw = FALSE))
py <- levelplot(y, scales = list(draw = FALSE))
pz <- levelplot(z, scales = list(draw = FALSE))
# Plot prints
print(pw, split = c(1, 1, 2, 2), more = TRUE)
print(px, split = c(2, 1, 2, 2), more = TRUE)
print(py, split = c(1, 2, 2, 2), more = TRUE)
print(pz, split = c(2, 2, 2, 2), more = FALSE) # more = FALSE is redundant
The code above gives you this figure:
As you can see, split takes four parameters. The last two refer to the size of your frame (similar to what mfrow does), whereas the first two parameters position your plot into the nx by ny frame.

Related

Histogram to decide whether two distributions have the same shape in R [duplicate]

I am using R and I have two data frames: carrots and cucumbers. Each data frame has a single numeric column that lists the length of all measured carrots (total: 100k carrots) and cucumbers (total: 50k cucumbers).
I wish to plot two histograms - carrot length and cucumbers lengths - on the same plot. They overlap, so I guess I also need some transparency. I also need to use relative frequencies not absolute numbers since the number of instances in each group is different.
Something like this would be nice but I don't understand how to create it from my two tables:

Here is an even simpler solution using base graphics and alpha-blending (which does not work on all graphics devices):
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4)) # centered at 4
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6)) # centered at 6
plot( p1, col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10)) # first histogram
plot( p2, col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add=T) # second
The key is that the colours are semi-transparent.
Edit, more than two years later: As this just got an upvote, I figure I may as well add a visual of what the code produces as alpha-blending is so darn useful:

That image you linked to was for density curves, not histograms.
If you've been reading on ggplot then maybe the only thing you're missing is combining your two data frames into one long one.
So, let's start with something like what you have, two separate sets of data and combine them.
carrots <- data.frame(length = rnorm(100000, 6, 2))
cukes <- data.frame(length = rnorm(50000, 7, 2.5))
# Now, combine your two dataframes into one.
# First make a new column in each that will be
# a variable to identify where they came from later.
carrots$veg <- 'carrot'
cukes$veg <- 'cuke'
# and combine into your new data frame vegLengths
vegLengths <- rbind(carrots, cukes)
After that, which is unnecessary if your data is in long format already, you only need one line to make your plot.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) + geom_density(alpha = 0.2)
Now, if you really did want histograms the following will work. Note that you must change position from the default "stack" argument. You might miss that if you don't really have an idea of what your data should look like. A higher alpha looks better there. Also note that I made it density histograms. It's easy to remove the y = ..density.. to get it back to counts.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) +
geom_histogram(alpha = 0.5, aes(y = ..density..), position = 'identity')
On additional thing, I commented on Dirk's question that all of the arguments could simply be in the hist command. I was asked how that could be done. What follows produces exactly Dirk's figure.
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4), col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10))
hist(rnorm(500,6), col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add = TRUE)

Here's a function I wrote that uses pseudo-transparency to represent overlapping histograms
plotOverlappingHist <- function(a, b, colors=c("white","gray20","gray50"),
breaks=NULL, xlim=NULL, ylim=NULL){
ahist=NULL
bhist=NULL
if(!(is.null(breaks))){
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
} else {
ahist=hist(a,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,plot=F)
dist = ahist$breaks[2]-ahist$breaks[1]
breaks = seq(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),dist)
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
}
if(is.null(xlim)){
xlim = c(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks))
}
if(is.null(ylim)){
ylim = c(0,max(ahist$counts,bhist$counts))
}
overlap = ahist
for(i in 1:length(overlap$counts)){
if(ahist$counts[i] > 0 & bhist$counts[i] > 0){
overlap$counts[i] = min(ahist$counts[i],bhist$counts[i])
} else {
overlap$counts[i] = 0
}
}
plot(ahist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[1])
plot(bhist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[2], add=T)
plot(overlap, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[3], add=T)
}
Here's another way to do it using R's support for transparent colors
a=rnorm(1000, 3, 1)
b=rnorm(1000, 6, 1)
hist(a, xlim=c(0,10), col="red")
hist(b, add=T, col=rgb(0, 1, 0, 0.5) )
The results end up looking something like this:

Already beautiful answers are there, but I thought of adding this. Looks good to me.
(Copied random numbers from #Dirk). library(scales) is needed`
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4),xlim=c(0,10),col='skyblue',border=F)
hist(rnorm(500,6),add=T,col=scales::alpha('red',.5),border=F)
The result is...
Update: This overlapping function may also be useful to some.
hist0 <- function(...,col='skyblue',border=T) hist(...,col=col,border=border)
I feel result from hist0 is prettier to look than hist
hist2 <- function(var1, var2,name1='',name2='',
breaks = min(max(length(var1), length(var2)),20),
main0 = "", alpha0 = 0.5,grey=0,border=F,...) {
library(scales)
colh <- c(rgb(0, 1, 0, alpha0), rgb(1, 0, 0, alpha0))
if(grey) colh <- c(alpha(grey(0.1,alpha0)), alpha(grey(0.9,alpha0)))
max0 = max(var1, var2)
min0 = min(var1, var2)
den1_max <- hist(var1, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den2_max <- hist(var2, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den_max <- max(den2_max, den1_max)*1.2
var1 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0) , breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[1], ylim = c(0, den_max), main = main0,border=border,...)
var2 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0), breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[2], ylim = c(0, den_max), add = T,border=border,...)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c('white','white', colh[1]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c(colh, colh[2]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3) }
The result of
par(mar=c(3, 4, 3, 2) + 0.1)
set.seed(100)
hist2(rnorm(10000,2),rnorm(10000,3),breaks = 50)
is

Here is an example of how you can do it in "classic" R graphics:
## generate some random data
carrotLengths <- rnorm(1000,15,5)
cucumberLengths <- rnorm(200,20,7)
## calculate the histograms - don't plot yet
histCarrot <- hist(carrotLengths,plot = FALSE)
histCucumber <- hist(cucumberLengths,plot = FALSE)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(histCucumber$breaks,histCarrot$breaks)
ylim <- range(0,histCucumber$density,
histCarrot$density)
## plot the first graph
plot(histCarrot,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
col = rgb(1,0,0,0.4),xlab = 'Lengths',
freq = FALSE, ## relative, not absolute frequency
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers')
## plot the second graph on top of this
opar <- par(new = FALSE)
plot(histCucumber,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
xaxt = 'n', yaxt = 'n', ## don't add axes
col = rgb(0,0,1,0.4), add = TRUE,
freq = FALSE) ## relative, not absolute frequency
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = rgb(1:0,0,0:1,0.4), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
par(opar)
The only issue with this is that it looks much better if the histogram breaks are aligned, which may have to be done manually (in the arguments passed to hist).

Here's the version like the ggplot2 one I gave only in base R. I copied some from #nullglob.
generate the data
carrots <- rnorm(100000,5,2)
cukes <- rnorm(50000,7,2.5)
You don't need to put it into a data frame like with ggplot2. The drawback of this method is that you have to write out a lot more of the details of the plot. The advantage is that you have control over more details of the plot.
## calculate the density - don't plot yet
densCarrot <- density(carrots)
densCuke <- density(cukes)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(densCuke$x,densCarrot$x)
ylim <- range(0,densCuke$y, densCarrot$y)
#pick the colours
carrotCol <- rgb(1,0,0,0.2)
cukeCol <- rgb(0,0,1,0.2)
## plot the carrots and set up most of the plot parameters
plot(densCarrot, xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim, xlab = 'Lengths',
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers',
panel.first = grid())
#put our density plots in
polygon(densCarrot, density = -1, col = carrotCol)
polygon(densCuke, density = -1, col = cukeCol)
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = c(carrotCol, cukeCol), bty = 'n',
border = NA)

#Dirk Eddelbuettel: The basic idea is excellent but the code as shown can be improved. [Takes long to explain, hence a separate answer and not a comment.]
The hist() function by default draws plots, so you need to add the plot=FALSE option. Moreover, it is clearer to establish the plot area by a plot(0,0,type="n",...) call in which you can add the axis labels, plot title etc. Finally, I would like to mention that one could also use shading to distinguish between the two histograms. Here is the code:
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4),plot=FALSE)
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6),plot=FALSE)
plot(0,0,type="n",xlim=c(0,10),ylim=c(0,100),xlab="x",ylab="freq",main="Two histograms")
plot(p1,col="green",density=10,angle=135,add=TRUE)
plot(p2,col="blue",density=10,angle=45,add=TRUE)
And here is the result (a bit too wide because of RStudio :-) ):

Plotly's R API might be useful for you. The graph below is here.
library(plotly)
#add username and key
p <- plotly(username="Username", key="API_KEY")
#generate data
x0 = rnorm(500)
x1 = rnorm(500)+1
#arrange your graph
data0 = list(x=x0,
name = "Carrots",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
data1 = list(x=x1,
name = "Cukes",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
#specify type as 'overlay'
layout <- list(barmode='overlay',
plot_bgcolor = 'rgba(249,249,251,.85)')
#format response, and use 'browseURL' to open graph tab in your browser.
response = p$plotly(data0, data1, kwargs=list(layout=layout))
url = response$url
filename = response$filename
browseURL(response$url)
Full disclosure: I'm on the team.

So many great answers but since I've just written a function (plotMultipleHistograms() in 'basicPlotteR' package) function to do this, I thought I would add another answer.
The advantage of this function is that it automatically sets appropriate X and Y axis limits and defines a common set of bins that it uses across all the distributions.
Here's how to use it:
# Install the plotteR package
install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("JosephCrispell/basicPlotteR")
library(basicPlotteR)
# Set the seed
set.seed(254534)
# Create random samples from a normal distribution
distributions <- list(rnorm(500, mean=5, sd=0.5),
rnorm(500, mean=8, sd=5),
rnorm(500, mean=20, sd=2))
# Plot overlapping histograms
plotMultipleHistograms(distributions, nBins=20,
colours=c(rgb(1,0,0, 0.5), rgb(0,0,1, 0.5), rgb(0,1,0, 0.5)),
las=1, main="Samples from normal distribution", xlab="Value")
The plotMultipleHistograms() function can take any number of distributions, and all the general plotting parameters should work with it (for example: las, main, etc.).

How to make the "ylim" of two plots to be exactly the same in R

Background
I have a function called TPN. When you run this function, it produces two plots (see picture below). The bottom-row plot samples from the top-row plot.
Question
I'm wondering how I could fix the ylim of the bottom-row plot to be always (i.e., regardless of the input values) the same as ylim of the top-row plot?
R code is provided below the picture (Run the entire block of code).
############## Input Values #################
TPN = function( each.sub.pop.n = 150,
sub.pop.means = 20:10,
predict.range = 10:0,
sub.pop.sd = .75,
n.sample = 2 ) {
#############################################
par( mar = c(2, 4.1, 2.1, 2.1) )
m = matrix( c(1, 2), nrow = 2, ncol = 1 ); layout(m)
set.seed(2460986)
Vec.rnorm <- Vectorize(function(n, mean, sd) rnorm(n, mean, sd), 'mean')
y <- c( Vec.rnorm(each.sub.pop.n, sub.pop.means, sub.pop.sd) )
set.seed(NULL)
x <- rep(predict.range, each = each.sub.pop.n)
plot(x, y) ## Plot #1
sample <- lapply(split(y, x), function(z) sample(z, n.sample, replace = TRUE))
sample <- data.frame(y = unlist(sample),
x = as.numeric(rep(names(sample), each = n.sample)))
plot(sample$x, sample$y) ## Plot # 2
}
## TEST HERE:
TPN()

You can get the ylim using par("yaxp")[1:2]. So, you can change the second plot code to have its ylim as the first plot's:
plot(sample$x, sample$y, ylim = par("yaxp")[1:2]) ## Plot # 2
or as mentioned in the comments, you can simply set the ylim for both plots to be range of both data-sets and add that to both plots:
ylim = range(c(y, sample$y))

Another option: Produce the same plot again but with type = "n" and then filling the points with points(). For example, change your plot 2 to
plot(x, y, type = "n")
points(sample$x, sample$y)
A benefit of this approach is that everything in the plot will be exactly the same, not just the y-axis (which may or may not matter for your function).

r program grouping 3 histograms into one grouped histogram [duplicate]

I am using R and I have two data frames: carrots and cucumbers. Each data frame has a single numeric column that lists the length of all measured carrots (total: 100k carrots) and cucumbers (total: 50k cucumbers).
I wish to plot two histograms - carrot length and cucumbers lengths - on the same plot. They overlap, so I guess I also need some transparency. I also need to use relative frequencies not absolute numbers since the number of instances in each group is different.
Something like this would be nice but I don't understand how to create it from my two tables:

Here is an even simpler solution using base graphics and alpha-blending (which does not work on all graphics devices):
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4)) # centered at 4
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6)) # centered at 6
plot( p1, col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10)) # first histogram
plot( p2, col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add=T) # second
The key is that the colours are semi-transparent.
Edit, more than two years later: As this just got an upvote, I figure I may as well add a visual of what the code produces as alpha-blending is so darn useful:

That image you linked to was for density curves, not histograms.
If you've been reading on ggplot then maybe the only thing you're missing is combining your two data frames into one long one.
So, let's start with something like what you have, two separate sets of data and combine them.
carrots <- data.frame(length = rnorm(100000, 6, 2))
cukes <- data.frame(length = rnorm(50000, 7, 2.5))
# Now, combine your two dataframes into one.
# First make a new column in each that will be
# a variable to identify where they came from later.
carrots$veg <- 'carrot'
cukes$veg <- 'cuke'
# and combine into your new data frame vegLengths
vegLengths <- rbind(carrots, cukes)
After that, which is unnecessary if your data is in long format already, you only need one line to make your plot.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) + geom_density(alpha = 0.2)
Now, if you really did want histograms the following will work. Note that you must change position from the default "stack" argument. You might miss that if you don't really have an idea of what your data should look like. A higher alpha looks better there. Also note that I made it density histograms. It's easy to remove the y = ..density.. to get it back to counts.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) +
geom_histogram(alpha = 0.5, aes(y = ..density..), position = 'identity')
On additional thing, I commented on Dirk's question that all of the arguments could simply be in the hist command. I was asked how that could be done. What follows produces exactly Dirk's figure.
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4), col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10))
hist(rnorm(500,6), col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add = TRUE)

Here's a function I wrote that uses pseudo-transparency to represent overlapping histograms
plotOverlappingHist <- function(a, b, colors=c("white","gray20","gray50"),
breaks=NULL, xlim=NULL, ylim=NULL){
ahist=NULL
bhist=NULL
if(!(is.null(breaks))){
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
} else {
ahist=hist(a,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,plot=F)
dist = ahist$breaks[2]-ahist$breaks[1]
breaks = seq(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),dist)
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
}
if(is.null(xlim)){
xlim = c(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks))
}
if(is.null(ylim)){
ylim = c(0,max(ahist$counts,bhist$counts))
}
overlap = ahist
for(i in 1:length(overlap$counts)){
if(ahist$counts[i] > 0 & bhist$counts[i] > 0){
overlap$counts[i] = min(ahist$counts[i],bhist$counts[i])
} else {
overlap$counts[i] = 0
}
}
plot(ahist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[1])
plot(bhist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[2], add=T)
plot(overlap, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[3], add=T)
}
Here's another way to do it using R's support for transparent colors
a=rnorm(1000, 3, 1)
b=rnorm(1000, 6, 1)
hist(a, xlim=c(0,10), col="red")
hist(b, add=T, col=rgb(0, 1, 0, 0.5) )
The results end up looking something like this:

Already beautiful answers are there, but I thought of adding this. Looks good to me.
(Copied random numbers from #Dirk). library(scales) is needed`
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4),xlim=c(0,10),col='skyblue',border=F)
hist(rnorm(500,6),add=T,col=scales::alpha('red',.5),border=F)
The result is...
Update: This overlapping function may also be useful to some.
hist0 <- function(...,col='skyblue',border=T) hist(...,col=col,border=border)
I feel result from hist0 is prettier to look than hist
hist2 <- function(var1, var2,name1='',name2='',
breaks = min(max(length(var1), length(var2)),20),
main0 = "", alpha0 = 0.5,grey=0,border=F,...) {
library(scales)
colh <- c(rgb(0, 1, 0, alpha0), rgb(1, 0, 0, alpha0))
if(grey) colh <- c(alpha(grey(0.1,alpha0)), alpha(grey(0.9,alpha0)))
max0 = max(var1, var2)
min0 = min(var1, var2)
den1_max <- hist(var1, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den2_max <- hist(var2, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den_max <- max(den2_max, den1_max)*1.2
var1 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0) , breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[1], ylim = c(0, den_max), main = main0,border=border,...)
var2 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0), breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[2], ylim = c(0, den_max), add = T,border=border,...)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c('white','white', colh[1]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c(colh, colh[2]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3) }
The result of
par(mar=c(3, 4, 3, 2) + 0.1)
set.seed(100)
hist2(rnorm(10000,2),rnorm(10000,3),breaks = 50)
is

Here is an example of how you can do it in "classic" R graphics:
## generate some random data
carrotLengths <- rnorm(1000,15,5)
cucumberLengths <- rnorm(200,20,7)
## calculate the histograms - don't plot yet
histCarrot <- hist(carrotLengths,plot = FALSE)
histCucumber <- hist(cucumberLengths,plot = FALSE)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(histCucumber$breaks,histCarrot$breaks)
ylim <- range(0,histCucumber$density,
histCarrot$density)
## plot the first graph
plot(histCarrot,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
col = rgb(1,0,0,0.4),xlab = 'Lengths',
freq = FALSE, ## relative, not absolute frequency
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers')
## plot the second graph on top of this
opar <- par(new = FALSE)
plot(histCucumber,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
xaxt = 'n', yaxt = 'n', ## don't add axes
col = rgb(0,0,1,0.4), add = TRUE,
freq = FALSE) ## relative, not absolute frequency
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = rgb(1:0,0,0:1,0.4), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
par(opar)
The only issue with this is that it looks much better if the histogram breaks are aligned, which may have to be done manually (in the arguments passed to hist).

Here's the version like the ggplot2 one I gave only in base R. I copied some from #nullglob.
generate the data
carrots <- rnorm(100000,5,2)
cukes <- rnorm(50000,7,2.5)
You don't need to put it into a data frame like with ggplot2. The drawback of this method is that you have to write out a lot more of the details of the plot. The advantage is that you have control over more details of the plot.
## calculate the density - don't plot yet
densCarrot <- density(carrots)
densCuke <- density(cukes)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(densCuke$x,densCarrot$x)
ylim <- range(0,densCuke$y, densCarrot$y)
#pick the colours
carrotCol <- rgb(1,0,0,0.2)
cukeCol <- rgb(0,0,1,0.2)
## plot the carrots and set up most of the plot parameters
plot(densCarrot, xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim, xlab = 'Lengths',
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers',
panel.first = grid())
#put our density plots in
polygon(densCarrot, density = -1, col = carrotCol)
polygon(densCuke, density = -1, col = cukeCol)
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = c(carrotCol, cukeCol), bty = 'n',
border = NA)

#Dirk Eddelbuettel: The basic idea is excellent but the code as shown can be improved. [Takes long to explain, hence a separate answer and not a comment.]
The hist() function by default draws plots, so you need to add the plot=FALSE option. Moreover, it is clearer to establish the plot area by a plot(0,0,type="n",...) call in which you can add the axis labels, plot title etc. Finally, I would like to mention that one could also use shading to distinguish between the two histograms. Here is the code:
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4),plot=FALSE)
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6),plot=FALSE)
plot(0,0,type="n",xlim=c(0,10),ylim=c(0,100),xlab="x",ylab="freq",main="Two histograms")
plot(p1,col="green",density=10,angle=135,add=TRUE)
plot(p2,col="blue",density=10,angle=45,add=TRUE)
And here is the result (a bit too wide because of RStudio :-) ):

Plotly's R API might be useful for you. The graph below is here.
library(plotly)
#add username and key
p <- plotly(username="Username", key="API_KEY")
#generate data
x0 = rnorm(500)
x1 = rnorm(500)+1
#arrange your graph
data0 = list(x=x0,
name = "Carrots",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
data1 = list(x=x1,
name = "Cukes",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
#specify type as 'overlay'
layout <- list(barmode='overlay',
plot_bgcolor = 'rgba(249,249,251,.85)')
#format response, and use 'browseURL' to open graph tab in your browser.
response = p$plotly(data0, data1, kwargs=list(layout=layout))
url = response$url
filename = response$filename
browseURL(response$url)
Full disclosure: I'm on the team.

So many great answers but since I've just written a function (plotMultipleHistograms() in 'basicPlotteR' package) function to do this, I thought I would add another answer.
The advantage of this function is that it automatically sets appropriate X and Y axis limits and defines a common set of bins that it uses across all the distributions.
Here's how to use it:
# Install the plotteR package
install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("JosephCrispell/basicPlotteR")
library(basicPlotteR)
# Set the seed
set.seed(254534)
# Create random samples from a normal distribution
distributions <- list(rnorm(500, mean=5, sd=0.5),
rnorm(500, mean=8, sd=5),
rnorm(500, mean=20, sd=2))
# Plot overlapping histograms
plotMultipleHistograms(distributions, nBins=20,
colours=c(rgb(1,0,0, 0.5), rgb(0,0,1, 0.5), rgb(0,1,0, 0.5)),
las=1, main="Samples from normal distribution", xlab="Value")
The plotMultipleHistograms() function can take any number of distributions, and all the general plotting parameters should work with it (for example: las, main, etc.).

How to add lines to a levelplot made using lattice (abline somehow not working)?

I want to draw horizontal and vertical lines on my level plot corresponding to x values from 74 to 76 and y values from 28 to 32. Below is my R code. But when I run the following,I get the levelplots but no lines. I also recieve no error from R. The default theme on my installation is something which maps the values to pink and cyan. I have also tried using the panel function but no luck with that as well.
levelplot(d_fire_count_nom ~ longitude + latitude | factor(day)+factor(year),
data = asia,
subset = (month == 10), aspect="iso", contour = FALSE, layout=c(1,1),
main="If a fire occured in a region (low confidence) in October during 2001-2008",
scales=list(x=list(at=seq(from=60,to=98, by=1)),
y=list(at=seq(from=5,to=38,by=1)),cex=.7, alternating=3),
xlim=c(60, 98), ylim=c(5, 38),
abline=list(h=74:76, v=28:32, col="grey"))

That's not how lattice graphics work. In fact, if you read ?levelplot you'll see that there is no argument to that function called abline, so I'm not sure where you got that syntax from.
You add things to lattice graphics by altering the panel function. There are many panel.* functions for doing various things, like plotting points, lines, scatterplot smoothers, etc. In this case there's a panel.abline that we'd like to use. So we define our own panel function.
This uses the very first example from ?levelplot:
x <- seq(pi/4, 5 * pi, length.out = 100)
y <- seq(pi/4, 5 * pi, length.out = 100)
r <- as.vector(sqrt(outer(x^2, y^2, "+")))
grid <- expand.grid(x=x, y=y)
grid$z <- cos(r^2) * exp(-r/(pi^3))
levelplot(z~x*y, grid,
panel = function(...){
panel.levelplot(...)
panel.abline(h = 2.5)
panel.abline(v = 2.5)
},
cuts = 50, scales=list(log="e"), xlab="",
ylab="", main="Weird Function", sub="with log scales",
colorkey = FALSE, region = TRUE)
Our new panel function needs to first draw the levelplot, so we have it call panel.levelplot first. Then we want to add some lines, so we add panel.abline for that purpose.

R problem with multiple plots pdf win7

I am trying to make one figure by stacking two graphs (a) and (b) vertically (i.e., a multiple plot with 2 rows, 1 column).
While I can do this for other plots I have tried, the following two plots generated from data using the ODE solver package deSolve refuse to be combined. On the screen, plot (a) flashes by and I am left looking at plot (b). Saving the plots results in 1 pdf file with 2 pages (each plot on a separate page) rather than 1 pdf file and 1 page (with both plots stacked into one figure as I am seeking).
As you can see from the code I have tried both mfrow and layout approaches to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Carey
df1 <-function(t,y,mu)( list(c(y[2], mu*y[1]^3 - y[1] + 0.005 * cos(t))))
library(deSolve)
yini <- c(y1=0, y2=0)
df2 <-ode(y = yini, func = df1, times = 0:1050, parms = 0.1667)
t <- seq(0, 1050, length=10000)
x <- 0.24 * (1 - cos(0.012 * t)) * cos(t + sin(0.012 * t))
pdf("c:/users/name/Desktop/figure2.pdf", height = 3, width=8)
# par(mfrow = c(2, 1))
layout(matrix(c(1, 2), 2, 1, byrow = TRUE))
plot(df2, type="l", which="y1", ylab="x", xlab="t", main="(a)")
plot(t, x, type="l", main="(b)")
dev.off()

The problem is that deSolve objects have their own plot method, and that overrides what happens with layout. As soon as your first plot is run, the layout set up is completely undone and the display is configured in terms of the defaults for deSolve objects. That's why there's a flash when the second plot writes over the first since there is no longer a multi-panel display.
The plot method is ?plot.deSolve - this function takes mfrow/mfcol arguments, so you can work with your layout as intended.
layout(matrix(c(1, 1, 2, 2), 2, 2, byrow = TRUE))
plot(df2, type="l", which = "y1", ylab = "x", xlab = "t", main = "(a)", mfrow = c(2, 1))
plot(t, x, type = "l", main = "(b)")

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