PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOID

Plots two- and three-dimensional Gaussian distributions

Description

PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOIDS plots 2-d and 3-d Gaussian distributions.
 
H = PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOIDS(M, C) plots the distribution specified by mean M and covariance C. The distribution is plotted as an ellipse (in 2-d) or an ellipsoid (in 3-d). By default, the distributions are plotted in the current axes. H is the graphics handle to the plotted ellipse or ellipsoid.
 
PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOIDS(M, C, SD) uses SD as the standard deviation along the major and minor axes (larger SD => larger ellipse). By default, SD = 1.
   
PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOIDS(M, C, SD, NPTS) plots the ellipse or ellipsoid with a resolution of NPTS (ellipsoids are generated on an NPTS x NPTS mesh). By default, NPTS = 50 for ellipses, and 20 for ellipsoids.
 
PLOT_GAUSSIAN_ELLIPSOIDS(M, C, SD, NPTS, AX) adds the plot to the axes specified by the axis handle AX.

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7 (R14)

[Ram Acharya]

Put the help above the function, otherwise help cannot be displayed.

[Gautam Vallabha]

"Put the help above the function, otherwise help cannot be displayed.". The help location in the m-file (below the function definition line) is a MathWorks convention. In any case, 'help plot_gaussian_ellipsoid' should work for all recent versions of MATLAB.

[John D'Errico]

There is no need to move the help. It is in an entirely appropriate place.

I'll add a couple of minor comments. A standard style in matlab for functions that return graphics handles is not to return the handle if no output argument is supplied. See any function like plot, surf, etc. So why not check to see if there are any output arguments requested? If there are none, then do not return h. Thus add this test at the end of your file:

if nargout == 0
  clear h
end

It was also unclear what the "number of points" means in the ellipsoid case. Is this the number of longitudinal lines?

Good help otherwise, good error checks, H1 line, examples, etc.

[J Ugander]

gca problem fixed, does what it says, well.

[Andrew Callender]

 

[Fejjro]

Simply spectacular! Using a sphere is a good idea.