How to Plot a Function Curve in R (With Example)

You can use the following methods to plot a function curve in R:

Method 1: Use Base R

curve(x^3, from=1, to=50, xlab='x', ylab='y')

Method 2: Use ggplot2

library(ggplot2)

df <- data.frame(x=c(1, 100))
eq = function(x){x^3}

#plot curve in ggplot2
ggplot(data=df, aes(x=x)) + 
  stat_function(fun=eq)

Both methods will produce a plot that shows the curve of the function y = x³.

The following examples show how to use each method in practice.

Example 1: Plot Function Curve Using Base R

The following code shows how to plot the curve of the function y = x³ using the curve() function from base R:

#plot curve using x-axis range of 1 to 50
curve(x^3, from=1, to=50, xlab='x', ylab='y')

plot function curve in base R

Note that you can use the following arguments to modify the appearance of the curve:

lwd: Line width
col: Line color
lty: Line style

The following code shows how to use these arguments in practice:

#plot curve using x-axis range of 1 to 50
curve(x^3, from=1, to=50, xlab='x', ylab='y', lwd=3, col='red', lty='dashed'))

Feel free to play around with the values for these arguments to create the exact curve you’d like.

Example 2: Plot Function Curve Using ggplot2

The following code shows how to plot the curve of the function y = x³ using the stat_function() function from ggplot2:

library(ggplot2)

#define data frame
df <- data.frame(x=c(1, 100))

#define function 
eq = function(x){x^3}

#plot curve in ggplot2
ggplot(data=df, aes(x=x)) + 
  stat_function(fun=eq)

plot function curve in ggplot2

You can also use the lwd, col, and lty functions within the stat_function() function to modify the appearance of the curve:

library(ggplot2)

#define data frame
df <- data.frame(x=c(1, 100))

#define function 
eq = function(x){x^3}

#plot curve in ggplot2 with custom appearance
ggplot(data=df, aes(x=x)) + 
  stat_function(fun=eq, lwd=2, col='red', lty='dashed')