The KmPlot Handbook

Klaus-Dieter Möller
Philip Rodrigues
David Saxton
The KmPlot Handbook

2
Contents

1 Introduction 6

2 First Steps With KmPlot 8

2.1 Simple Function Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Edit Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Using KmPlot 9
3.1 Function Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.1 Cartesian Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.2 Parametric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.3 Functions in Polar Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1.4 Implicit Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1.5 Differential Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Combining Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3 Changing the appearance of functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4 Popup menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 Configuring KmPlot 14
4.1 General Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2 Diagram Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.3 Colors Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.4 Fonts Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

5 KmPlot Reference 18
5.1 Function Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2 Predefined Function Names and Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2.1 Trigonometric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2.2 Hyperbolic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.3 Other Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.4 Predefined Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.3 Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.4 Mathematical Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.5 Plotting Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
 The KmPlot Handbook

5.6 Crosshair Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

5.7 Coordinate System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.7.1 Axes Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.8 Constants Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

6 Command Reference 24
6.1 Menu Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.1 The File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.2 The Edit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.3 The View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.4 The Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.1.5 The Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

7 Scripting KmPlot 26

8 Credits and License 30

4
 Abstract

KmPlot is a mathematical function plotter by KDE.

KmPlot is part of the KDE-EDU Project:

[Link]
 The KmPlot Handbook

Chapter 1

Introduction

KmPlot is a mathematical function plotter by KDE. It has a powerful built-in parser. You can plot
different functions simultaneously and combine them to build new functions.

KmPlot supports several different types of plots:

• Explicit cartesian plots of the form y = f(x).

• Parametric plots, where the x and y components are specified as functions of an independent
variable.
• Polar plots of the form r = r(T).
• Implicit plots, where the x and y coordinates are related by an expression.
• Explicit differential plots.

KmPlot also provides some numerical and visual features like:

• Filling and calculating the area between the plot and the first axis.

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• Finding maximum and minimum values.

• Changing function parameters dynamically.
• Plotting derivatives and integral functions.

These features help in learning the relationship between mathematical functions and their graph-
ical representation in a coordinate system.

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Chapter 2

First Steps With KmPlot

2.1 Simple Function Plot

In the sidebar on the left, there is the Create button with a drop down menu for creating new
plots. Click on it, and select Cartesian Plot. The text box for editing the current equation will be
focused. Replace the default text with
y = x ^2

and press Enter. This will draw the plot of y = x2 in the coordinate system. Clicking on the Create
button again, select Cartesian Plot, and this time enter the text
y = 5 sin (x)

to get another plot.

Drag and drop the item y = 5sin(x) in the left sidebar to clone the plot. Replace sin with cos
to get the cosine plot of the same color.
Click on one of the lines you have just plotted. Now the crosshair becomes the color of the current
plot and is attached to the it. You can use the mouse to move the crosshair along the plot. In the
status bar at the bottom of the window the coordinates of the current position is displayed. Note
that if the plot touches the horizontal axis the root will be displayed in the status bar, too.
Click the mouse again and the crosshair will be detached from the plot.

2.2 Edit Properties

Let us make some changes to the function and change the color of the plot.
The Functions sidebar lists all the functions that you have plotted. If y = xˆ2 isn’t already selected,
select it. Here you have access to a lot of options. Let us rename the function and move the plot
5 units down. Change the function equation to
parabola (x) = x ^2 - 5

and hit enter. To select another color for the plot, click the Color button in the section Appearance
at the bottom of the Functions sidebar and select a new color.

N OTE
All changes can be undone via Edit → Undo.

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Chapter 3

Using KmPlot

KmPlot deals with several different types of functions, which can be written in function form or
as an equation:

• Cartesian plots can either be written as e.g. ‘y = xˆ2’, where x has to be used as the variable; or
as e.g. ‘f(a) = aˆ2’, where the name of the variable is arbitrary.
• Parametric plots are similar to Cartesian plots. The x and y coordinates can be entered as
equations in t, e.g. ‘x = sin(t)’, ‘y = cos(t)’, or as functions, e.g. ‘f_x(s) = sin(s)’, ‘f_y(s) = cos(s)’.
• Polar plots are also similar to Cartesian plots. They can be either be entered as an equation in
T, e.g. ‘r = T’, or as a function, e.g. ‘f(x) = x’.
• For implicit plots, the name of the function is entered separately from the expression relating
the x and y coordinates. If the x and y variables are specified via the function name (by entering
e.g.‘f(a,b)’ as the function name), then these variables will be used. Otherwise, the letters x and
y will be used for the variables.
• Explicit differential plots are differential equations whereby the highest derivative is given in
terms of the lower derivatives. Differentiation is denoted by a prime (’). In function form, the
equation will look like ‘f”(x) = f’ − f’. In equation form, it will look like ‘y” = y’ − y’. Note that
in both cases, the ‘(x)’ part is not added to the lower order differential terms (so you would
enter ‘f’(x) = −f’ and not ‘f’(x) = −f(x)’).

All the equation entry boxes come with a button on the right. Clicking this invokes the advanced
Equation Editor dialog, which provides:

• A variety of mathematical symbols that can be used in equations, but aren’t found on normal
keyboards.
• The list of user constants and a button for editing them.
• The list of predefined functions. Note that if you have text already selected, it will be used
as the function argument when a function is inserted. For example, if ‘1 + x’ is selected in
the equation ‘y = 1 + x’, and the sine function is chosen, then the equation will become ‘ y =
sin(1+x)’.

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3.1 Function Types

3.1.1 Cartesian Functions

To enter an explicit function (i.e., a function in the form y=f(x)) into KmPlot, just enter it in the
following form:
f(x) = expression

where:
• f is the name of the function, and can be any string of letters and numbers.
• x is the horizontal coordinate, to be used in the expression following the equals sign. It is a
dummy variable, so you can use any variable name you like to achieve the same effect.
• expression is the expression to be plotted, given in the appropriate syntax for KmPlot. See
Section 5.4.

3.1.2 Parametric Functions

Parametric functions are those in which the x and y coordinates are defined by separate functions
of another variable, often called t. To enter a parametric function in KmPlot, follow the procedure
as for a Cartesian function for each of the x and y functions. As with Cartesian functions, you
may use any variable name you wish for the parameter.
As an example, suppose you want to draw a circle, which has parametric equations x = sin(t), y
= cos(t). After creating a parametric plot, enter the appropriate equations in the x and y boxes,
i.e., f_x(t)=sin(t) and f_y(t)=cos(t).
You can set some further options for the plot in the function editor:

Min:, Max:
These options control the range of the parameter t for which the function is plotted.

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3.1.3 Functions in Polar Coordinates

Polar coordinates represent a point by its distance from the origin (usually called r), and the angle
a line from the origin to the point makes with the horizontal axis (usually represented by T the
Greek letter theta). To enter functions in polar coordinates, click the Create button and select
Polar Plot from the list. In the definition box, complete the function definition, including the
name of the theta variable you want to use, e.g., to draw the Archimedes’ spiral r = T, enter:
r (θ) = θ

Note that you can use any name for the theta variable, so ‘r(t) = t’ or ‘f(x) = x’ will produce exactly
the same output.

3.1.4 Implicit Functions

An implicit expression relates the x and y coordinates as an equality. To create a circle, for exam-
ple, click the Create button and select Implicit Plot from the list. Then, enter into the equation
box (below the function name box) the following:
x ^2 + y ^2 = 25

3.1.5 Differential Functions

KmPlot can plot explicit differential equations. These are equations of the form y(n) =
F(x,y’,y”,...,y(n−1) ), where yk is the kth derivative of y(x). KmPlot can only interpret the deriva-
tive order as the number of primes following the function name. To draw a sinusoidal curve, for
example, you would use the differential equation y’’ = − y or f’’(x) = −f.
However, a differential equation on its own isn’t enough to determine a plot. Each curve in the
diagram is generated by a combination of the differential equation and the initial conditions. You
can edit the initial conditions by clicking on the Initial Conditions tab when a differential equa-
tion is selected. The number of columns provided for editing the initial conditions is dependent
on the order of the differential equation.
You can set some further options for the plot in the function editor:

Step:
The step value in the precision box is used in numerically solving the differential equation
(using the Runge Kutta method). Its value is the maximum step size used; a smaller step
size may be used if part of the differential plot is zoomed in close enough.

3.2 Combining Functions

Functions can be combined to produce new ones. Simply enter the functions after the equals sign
in an expression as if the functions were variables. For example, if you have defined functions
f(x) and g(x), you can plot the sum of f and g with:
sum (x) = f(x) + g(x)

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3.3 Changing the appearance of functions

To change the appearance of a function’s graph on the main plot window, select the function in
the Functions sidebar. You can change the plot’s line width, color and many other aspects by
clicking on the Color: or Advanced... button at the bottom of the section Appearance.
If you are editing a Cartesian function, the function editor will have three tabs. In the first one
you specify the equation of the function. The Derivatives tab lets you draw the first and second
derivative to the function. With the Integral tab you can draw the integral of the function.

3.4 Popup menu

When right-clicking on a plot function or a single-point parametric plot function a popup menu
will appear. In the menu there are five items available:

Edit
Selects the function in the Functions sidebar for editing.
Hide
Hides the selected graph. Other plots of the graph’s function will still be shown.
Remove
Removes the function. All its graphs will disappear.
Animate Plot...
Displays the Parameter Animator dialog.
Calculator
Opens the Calculator dialog.

Depending on the plot type, there will also be up to five tools available:

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Copy (x, y)
Copies the current value on the plot to the system clipboard. This tool can be useful for
creating tables of function values outside of KmPlot.
Copy Root Value
Copies the root x value to the system clipboard. Only up to the first five digits after the
decimal point can be copied. Use some computer algebra system to determine this root
with arbitrary precision. This tool is only available when the current tracking position is
close to a root.
Plot Area...
Select the minimum and maximum horizontal values for the graph in the new dialog that
appears. Calculates the integral and draws the area between the graph and the horizontal
axis in the selected range in the color of the graph.
Find Minimum...
Find the minimum value of the graph in a specified range. The selected graph will be
highlighted in the dialog that appears. Enter the lower and upper boundaries of the region
in which you want to search for a minimum.
Note: You can also tell the plot to visually show the extreme points in the Plot Appearance
dialog, accessible in the Functions sidebar by clicking on Advanced....
Find Maximum...
This is the same as Find Minimum... above, but finds the maximum value instead of the
minimum value.

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Chapter 4

Configuring KmPlot

To access the KmPlot configuration dialog, select Settings → Configure KmPlot... menu item.
The settings for Constants... can only be changed from the Edit menu and the Coordinate Sys-
tem... only from the View menu.

4.1 General Configuration

Here you can set global settings which automatic will be saved when you exit KmPlot. You can
set angle-mode (radians and degrees), zoom in and zoom out factors for zooming using Ctrl with
mouse wheel or the corresponding menu items, and whether to show advanced plot tracing.

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4.2 Diagram Configuration

You can set the Grid Style to one of four options:

None
No gridlines are drawn on the plot area.
Lines
Straight lines form a grid of squares on the plot area.
Crosses
Crosses are drawn to indicate points where x and y have integer values (e.g., (1,1), (4,2)
etc.).
Polar
Lines of constant radius and of constant angle are drawn on the plot area.

Other options for the diagram appearance can also be configured:

Axis Labels
This section sets labels for the horizontal and vertical axes.
Axis widths:
Sets the width of the lines representing the axes.
Line width:
Sets the width of the lines used for drawing the grid.
Tic width:
Sets the width of the lines representing tics on the axes.
Tic length:
Sets the length of the lines representing tics on the axes.

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Show labels
If checked, the names of the axes are shown on the plot and the axes’ tics are labeled.
Show axes
If checked, the axes are visible.
Show arrows
If checked, the axes are displayed with arrows at their ends.

4.3 Colors Configuration

In the Coords section of the Colors configuration dialog, you can change the colors of the axes,
the grid and the background of the main KmPlot area.
The Default Function Colors control which colors are cycled through when creating new func-
tions.

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4.4 Fonts Configuration

Axes labels:
The font used for drawing the axis numbers and x/y labels.
Diagram labels:
The font used for drawing diagram labels (e.g., those showing the plot name or extreme
points).
Header table:
The font used for drawing the header when printing a plot.

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Chapter 5

KmPlot Reference

5.1 Function Syntax

Some syntax rules must be complied with:
name ( var1 [, var2 ]) = term [; extensions ]

name
The function name. If the first character is ‘r’ the parser assumes that you are using polar
coordinates. If the first character is ‘x’ (for instance ‘xfunc’) the parser expects a second
function with a leading ‘y’ (here ‘yfunc’) to define the function in parametric form.
var1
The function’s variable.
var2
The function ‘group parameter’. It must be separated from the function’s variable by a
comma. You can use the group parameter to, for example, plot a number of graphs from
one function. The parameter values can be selected manually or you can choose to have
a slider bar that controls one parameter. By changing the value of the slider the value
parameter will be changed. The slider can be set to an integer between 0 and 100.
term
The expression defining the function.

5.2 Predefined Function Names and Constants

All the predefined functions and constants that KmPlot knows can be shown by selecting Help
→ Predefined Math Functions, which displays this page of KmPlot’s handbook.
These functions and constants and even all user defined functions can be used to determine the
axes settings as well. See Section 5.7.1.

5.2.1 Trigonometric Functions

By default, the trigonometric functions work in radians. However, this can be changed via Set-
tings → Configure KmPlot... menu item.

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sin(x), arcsin(x), cosec(x), arccosec(x)

The sine, inverse sine, cosecant and inverse cosecant respectively.
cos(x), arccos(x), sec(x), arcsec(x)
The cosine, inverse cosine, secant and inverse secant respectively.
tan(x), arctan(x), cot(x), arccot(x)
The tangent, inverse tangent, cotangent and inverse cotangent respectively.

5.2.2 Hyperbolic Functions

The Hyperbolic Functions.

sinh(x), arcsinh(x), cosech(x), arccosech(x)

The hyperbolic sine, inverse sine, cosecant and inverse cosecant respectively.
cosh(x), arccosh(x), sech(x), arcsech(x)
The hyperbolic cosine, inverse cosine, secant and inverse secant respectively.
tanh(x), arctanh(x), coth(x), arccoth(x)
The hyperbolic tangent, inverse tangent, cotangent and inverse cotangent respectively.

5.2.3 Other Functions

sqr(x)
The square xˆ2 of x.
sqrt(x)
The square root of x.
sign(x)
The sign of x. Returns 1 if x is positive, 0 if x is zero, or −1 if x is negative.
H(x)
The Heaviside Step Function. Returns 1 if x is positive, 0.5 if x is zero, or 0 if x is negative.
exp(x)
The exponent eˆx of x.
ln(x)
The natural logarithm (inverse exponent) of x.
log(x)
The logarithm of x to base 10.
abs(x)
The absolute value of x.
floor(x)
Rounds x to closest integer less than or equal to x.
ceil(x)
Rounds x to the closest integer greater than or equal to x.

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round(x)
Rounds x to the closest integer.
gamma(x)
The gamma function.
factorial(x)
The factorial of x.
min(x1 ,x2 ,...,xn )
Returns the minimum of the set of numbers {x1 ,x2 ,...,xn }.
max(x1 ,x2 ,...,xn )
Returns the maximum of the set of numbers {x1 ,x2 ,...,xn }.
mod(x1 ,x2 ,...,xn )
Returns the modulus (Euclidean length) of the set of numbers {x1 ,x2 ,...,xn }.

5.2.4 Predefined Constants

pi, π
Constants representing π (3.14159...).
e
Constant representing Euler’s Number e (2.71828...).

5.3 Extensions
An extension for a function is specified by entering a semicolon, followed by the extension, after
the function definition. The extension can be entered by using the D-Bus method ‘parser addFu
nction’. None of the extensions are available for parametric functions but N and D[a,b] work for
polar functions too. For example:

f(x)=x ^2; A1

will show the graph y=x2 with its first derivative. Supported extensions are described below:

N
The function will be stored but not be drawn. It can be used like any other user-defined or
predefined function.
A1
The graph of the derivative of the function will be drawn additionally with the same color
but less line width.
A2
The graph of the second derivative of the function will be drawn additionally with the same
color but less line width.
D[a,b]
Sets the domain for which the function will be displayed.

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P[a{,b...}]
Give a set of values of a group parameter for which the function should be displayed. For
example: f(x,k)=k*x;P[1,2,3] will plot the functions f(x)=x, f(x)=2*x and f(x)=3*x.
You can also use functions as the arguments to the P option.

Please note that you can do all of these operations by editing the items in the Derivatives tab, the
Custom plot range section and the Parameters section in the Functions sidebar too.

5.4 Mathematical Syntax

KmPlot uses a common way of expressing mathematical functions, so you should have no trouble
working it out. The operators KmPlot understands are, in order of decreasing precedence:

ˆ
The caret symbol performs exponentiation. e.g., 2ˆ4 returns 16.
*, /
The asterisk and slash symbols perform multiplication and division . e.g., 3*4/2 returns 6.
+, −
The plus and minus symbols perform addition and subtraction. e.g., 1+3−2 returns 2.
<, >, ≤, ≥
Comparison operators. They return 1 if the expression is true, otherwise they return 0. e.g.,
1 ≤ 2 returns 1.
√
√
The square root of a number. e.g., 4 returns 2.

|x|
The absolute value of x. e.g., |−4| returns 4.
±,
Each plus-minus sign gives two sets of plots: one in which the plus is taken, and one in
which the minus is taken.e.g.. y = ±sqrt(1−xˆ2) will draw a circle. These, therefore,
cannot be used in constants.

Note the precedence, which means that if parentheses are not used, exponentiation is performed
before multiplication/division, which is performed before addition/subtraction. So 1+2*4ˆ2
returns 33, and not, say 144. To override this, use parentheses. To use the above example, (
(1+2)*4)ˆ2 will return 144.

5.5 Plotting Area

By default, explicitly given functions are plotted for the whole of the visible part of the horizontal
axis. You can specify an other range in the edit-dialog for the function. If the plotting area
contains the resulting point it is connected to the last drawn point by a line.
Parametric and polar functions have a default plotting range of 0 to 2π. This plotting range can
also be changed in the Functions sidebar.

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5.6 Crosshair Cursor

While the mouse cursor is over the plotting area the cursor changes to a crosshair. The current
coordinates can be seen at the intersections with the coordinate axes and also in the status bar at
the bottom of the main window.
You can trace a function’s values more precisely by clicking onto or next to a graph. The selected
function is shown in the status bar in the right column. The crosshair then will be caught and
be colored in the same color as the graph. If the graph has the same color as the background
color, the crosshair will have the inverted color of the background. When moving the mouse or
pressing the keys Left or Right the crosshair will follow the function and you see the current
horizontal and vertical value. If the crosshair is close to vertical axis, the root-value is shown in
the statusbar. You can switch function with the Up and Down keys. A second click anywhere in
the window or pressing any non-navigating key will leave this trace mode.
For more advanced tracing, open up the configuration dialog, and select Draw tangent and nor-
mal when tracing from the General Settings page. This option will draw the tangent, normal
and oscillating circle of the plot currently being traced.

5.7 Coordinate System Configuration

To open this dialog select View → Coordinate System... from the menubar.

5.7.1 Axes Configuration

Horizontal axis Range

Sets the range for the horizontal axis scale. Note that you can use the predefined functions
and constants (see Section 5.2) as the extremes of the range (e.g., set Min: to 2*pi). You can
even use functions you have defined to set the extremes of the axis range. For example, if
you have defined a function f(x) = xˆ2, you could set Min: to f(3), which would make
the lower end of the range equal to 9.

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Vertical axis Range

Sets the range for the vertical axis. See ‘Horizontal axis Range’ above.
Horizontal axis Grid Spacing
This controls the spacing between grid lines in the horizontal direction. If Automatic is
selected, then KmPlot will try to find a grid line spacing of about two centimeters that is
also numerically nice. If Custom: is selected, then you can enter the horizontal grid spacing.
This value will be used regardless of the zoom. For example, if a value of 0.5 is entered, and
the x range is 0 to 8, then 16 grid lines will be shown.
Vertical axis Grid Spacing
This controls the spacing between grid lines in the vertical direction. See ‘Horizontal axis
Grid Spacing’ above.

5.8 Constants Configuration

To open this dialog select Edit → Constants... from the menubar.

Constants can be used as part of an expression anywhere inside of KmPlot. Each constant must
have a name and a value. Some names are invalid, however, such as existing function names or
existing constants.
There are two options that control the scope of a constant:

Document
If you select the Document checkbox, then the Constant will be saved along with the cur-
rent diagram when you save it to file. However, unless you have also selected the Global
option, the constant will not be available between instances of KmPlot.
Global
If you select the Global checkbox, then the Constant’s name and value will be written to
KDE settings (where it can also be used by KCalc). The constant will not be lost when
KmPlot is closed, and will be available again for use when KmPlot is started again.

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Chapter 6

Command Reference

6.1 Menu Items

Apart from the common KDE menus described in the Menu chapter of the KDE Fundamentals
documentation KmPlot has these application specific menu entries:

6.1.1 The File Menu

File → Export...
Exports the plotted graphs to an image file in all formats supported by KDE.
File → Print...
Opens print configuration window. Press the Options » button then choose the KmPlot
Options tab to configure options that are specific for KmPlot.
File → Print Preview
Shows the preliminary image of the current plot as printed on the current default printer.
Press the rightmost button on the toolbar of the print preview window to configure options
that are specific for KmPlot.

6.1.2 The Edit Menu

Edit → Constants...
Displays the Constants Editor dialog box. See Section 5.8.

6.1.3 The View Menu

The first three items in the menu are related to zooming.

N OTE
The mouse wheel can also be used as a zoom control. To zoom in or out using the mouse, hold down
the Ctrl key while you turn the mouse wheel. Each tick increases or decreases the zoom factor by the
value defined in the KmPlot General settings.

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View → Zoom In (Ctrl+1)

This tool can be operator in two different manners. To zoom in on a point on the graph,
click on it. To zoom in on a specific section of the graph, hold and drag the mouse to form
a rectangle, which will be the new axes ranges when the mouse button is released.
View → Zoom Out (Ctrl+2)
The tool can also be used in two different manners. To zoom out and center on a point, click
on that point. To fit the existing view into a rectangle, hold and drag the mouse to form that
rectangle.
View → Fit Widget to Trigonometric Functions
The scale will be adapted to trigonometric functions. This works both for radians and
degrees.
View → Reset View
Resets the view.
View → Coordinate System...
Displays the Coordinate System dialog box. See Section 5.7.
View → Show Sliders
Toggles the visibility of the slider dialog. In the dialog move a slider to change the param-
eter of the function plot connected to it.
Enable this on the Function tab and select one of the sliders to change the parameter value
dynamically. The values vary from 0 (left) to 10 (right) by default, but can be changed in
the slider dialog.
For a small tutorial see Using Sliders.

6.1.4 The Tools Menu

This menu contains some tools for the functions that can be useful:

Tools → Calculator
Opens the Calculator dialog.
Tools → Plot Area...
Select a graph and the values of the horizontal axis in the new dialog that appears. Calcu-
lates the integral and draws the area between the graph and the horizontal axis in the range
of the selected values in the color of the graph.
Tools → Find Minimum...
Find the minimum value of the graph in a specified range.
Tools → Find Maximum...
Find the maximum value of the graph in a specified range.

6.1.5 The Help Menu

KmPlot has a standard KDE Help with one addition:

Help → Predefined Math Functions...

Opens this handbook with a list of the predefined function names and constants that Km-
Plot knows.

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Chapter 7

Scripting KmPlot

You can write scripts for KmPlot using D-Bus. For example, if you want to define a new function
f(x)=2sin x+3cos x, set its line width to 20 and then draw it, you type in a console:
qdbus [Link]-PID /parser [Link] ˝f(x)=2sin x+3cos x˝ ˝˝
As a result, the new function’s id number will be returned, or -1 if the function could not be
defined.
qdbus [Link]-PID /parser [Link] ID 20 This
command sets the function with the id number ID the line width to 20.
qdbus [Link]-PID /view [Link] This command repaints the
window so that the function get visible.
A list of the available functions:

/kmplot [Link] url

Load the file url.
/maindlg [Link]
Returns true if any changes are done.
/maindlg [Link]
If there are any unsaved changes, a dialog appears to save, discard or cancel the plots.
/maindlg [Link]
Opens the coordinate system edit dialog.
/maindlg [Link]
Shows/hides parameter slider window.
/maindlg [Link]
Saves the functions (opens the save dialog if it is a new file).
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing the File → Save As... in the menu.
/maindlg [Link]
Opens the print dialog.
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing View → Reset View in the menu.

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/maindlg [Link]
Opens the export dialog.
/maindlg [Link]
Opens the settings dialog.
/maindlg [Link]
Shows the predefined math functions in the handbook.
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing Tools → Minimum Value... in the menu.
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing Tools → Maximum Value... in the menu.
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing Tools → Plot Area... in the menu.
/maindlg [Link]
The same as choosing Tools → Calculator in the menu.
/parser [Link] f_str0 f_fstr1
Adds a new function with the expressions f_str0 and f_str1. If the expression does not
contain a function name, it will be auto-generated. The id number of the new function is
returned, or -1 if the function could not be defined.
/parser [Link] id
Removes the function with the id number id . If the function could not be deleted, false is
returned, otherwise true.
/parser [Link] id eq f_str
Sets the expression for the function with the id number id to f_str . Returns true if it
succeed, otherwise false.
/parser [Link]
Returns the number of functions (parametric functions are calculated as two).
/parser [Link]
Returns a list with all functions.
/parser [Link] f_str
Returns the id number of f_str or -1 if the function name f_str was not found.
/parser [Link] id
Returns true if the function with the ID id is visible, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].functionF1Visible id
Returns true if the first derivative of the function with the ID id is visible, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].functionF2Visible id
Returns true if the second derivative of the function with the ID id is visible, otherwise
false.
/parser [Link] id
Returns true if the integral of the function with the ID id is visible, otherwise false.

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/parser [Link] id visible

Shows the function with the ID id if visible is true. If visible is false, the function will
be hidden. True is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].setFunctionF1Visible id visible
Shows the first derivative of the function with the ID id if visible is true. If visible is
false, the function will be hidden. True is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].setFunctionF2Visible id visible
Shows the second derivative of the function with the ID id if visible is true. If visible is
false, the function will be hidden. True is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id visible
Shows the integral of the function with the ID id if visible is true. If visible is false, the
function will be hidden. True is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id eq
Returns the function expression of the function with the ID id . If the function not exists, an
empty string is returned instead.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the line width of the function with the ID id . If the function not exists, 0 is returned.
/parser [Link].functionF1LineWidth id
Returns the line width of the first derivative of the function with the ID id . If the function
not exists, 0 is returned.
/parser [Link].functionF2LineWidth id
Returns the line width of the second derivative of the function with the ID id . If the func-
tion not exists, 0 is returned.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the line width of the integral of the function with the ID id . If the function not
exists, 0 is returned.
/parser [Link] id linewidth
Sets the line width of the function with the ID id to linewidth. True is returned if the
function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].setFunctionF1LineWidth id linewidth
Sets the line width of the first derivative of the function with the ID id to linewidth. True
is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link].setFunctionF2LineWidth id linewidth
Sets the line width of the second derivative of the function with the ID id to linewidth.
True is returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id linewidth
Sets the line width of the integral of the function with the ID id to linewidth. True is
returned if the function exists, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id
Returns a list with all the parameter values for the function with the ID id .
/parser [Link] id new_parameter
Adds the parameter value new_parameter to the function with the ID id . True is returned
if the operation succeed, otherwise false.

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/parser [Link] id remove_parameter

Removes the parameter value remove_parameter from the function with the ID id . True
is returned if the operation succeed, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the minimum plot range value of the function with the ID id . If the function not
exists or if the minimum value is not defined, an empty string is returned.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the maximum plot range value of the function with the ID id . If the function not
exists or if the maximum value is not defined, an empty string is returned.
/parser [Link] id min
Sets the minimum plot range value of the function with the ID id to min. True is returned
if the function exists and the expression is valid, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id max
Sets the maximum plot range value of the function with the ID id to max . True is returned
if the function exists and the expression is valid, otherwise false.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the initial x point for the integral of the function with the ID id . If the function not
exists or if the x-point-expression is not defined, an empty string is returned.
/parser [Link] id
Returns the initial y point for the integral of the function with the ID id . If the function not
exists or if the y-point-expression is not defined, an empty string is returned.
/parser [Link] id x y
Sets the initial x and y point for the integral of the function with the ID id to x and y . True
is returned if the function exists and the expression is valid, otherwise false.
/view [Link]
If KmPlot currently is drawing a function, the procedure will stop.
/view [Link]
Redraws all functions.

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Chapter 8

Credits and License

KmPlot
Program copyright 2000-2002 Klaus-Dieter Möller [Link]@[Link]
C ONTRIBUTORS

• CVS: Robert Gogolok mail@[Link]

• Porting GUI to KDE 3 and Translating: Matthias Messmer bmlmessmer@[Link]
• Various improvements: Fredrik Edemar f_edemar@[Link]
• Porting to Qt™ 4, UI improvements, features: David Saxton david@[Link]

Documentation copyright 2000--2002 by Klaus-Dieter Möller [Link]@[Link].

Documentation extended and updated for KDE 3.2 by Philip Rodrigues phil@[Link].
Documentation extended and updated for KDE 3.3 by Philip Rodrigues phil@[Link] and
Fredrik Edemar f_edemar@[Link].
Documentation extended and updated for KDE 3.4 by Fredrik Edemar f_edemar@[Link].
Documentation extended and updated for KDE 4.0 by David Saxton david@[Link].
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

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