How to graph a two-variable function as a surface (in Python, using SymPy)

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Task

Assume we have a mathematical formula in the variables $x$ and $y$ and we would like to plot a graph of it using a 3D coordinate system.

Related tasks:

• How to graph mathematical functions
• How to graph mathematical sequences

Solution

This answer assumes you have imported SymPy as follows.

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from sympy import *                   # load all math functions
init_printing( use_latex='mathjax' )  # use pretty math output

First, we need a two-variable function that we wish to plot.

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var( 'x y' )
formula = sin( x**2 + y**2 )
formula

$\displaystyle \sin{\left(x^{2} + y^{2} \right)}$

You can use plot3d, but you have to import it specifically, because it is not imported by default with the rest of SymPy.

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from sympy.plotting.plot import plot3d
plot3d( formula )

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<sympy.plotting.plot.Plot at 0x7f085354fa60>

Specify the minimum and maximum values for both $x$ and $y$ as follows. In this example, I keep $-\pi\leq x\leq\pi$ and $-\frac\pi2\leq y\leq\frac\pi2$.

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plot3d( formula, (x,-pi,pi), (y,-pi/2,pi/2) )

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<sympy.plotting.plot.Plot at 0x7f07e5878a60>

Content last modified on 24 July 2023.

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Contributed by Nathan Carter (ncarter@bentley.edu)