# stem3

Plot 3-D discrete sequence data

## Description

example

stem3(Z) plots entries in Z as stems extending from the xy-plane and terminating with circles at the entry values. The stem locations in the xy-plane are automatically generated.

example

stem3(X,Y,Z) plots entries in Z as stems extending from the xy-plane where X and Y specify the stem locations in the xy-plane. The inputs X, Y, and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

example

stem3(___,'filled') fills the circles. Use this option with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

example

stem3(___,LineSpec) specifies the line style, marker symbol, and color.

example

stem3(___,Name,Value) modifies the stem chart using one or more name-value pair arguments.

example

stem3(ax,___) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of into the current axes (gca). The option, ax, can precede any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

example

h = stem3(___) returns the Stem object h.

## Examples

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Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $-\pi /2$ and $\pi /2$ with a row vector input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots elements of Z against the same y value at equally space x values.

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $-\pi /2$ and $\pi /2$ with a column vector input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40)';
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots elements of Z against the same x value at equally space y values.

Create a 3-D stem plot of sine and cosine values between $-\pi /2$ and $\pi /2$ with a matrix input.

figure
X = linspace(-pi/2,pi/2,40);
Z = [sin(X); cos(X)];
stem3(Z)

stem3 plots each row of Z against the same y value at equally space x values.

Create a 3-D stem plot and specify the stem locations along a curve. Use view to adjust the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
X = linspace(-5,5,60);
Y = cos(X);
Z = X.^2;
stem3(X,Y,Z)
view(-8,30)

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Create a 3-D stem plot with matrix data and specify the stem locations in the xy-plane.

figure
[X,Y] = meshgrid(0:.1:1);
Z = exp(X+Y);
stem3(X,Y,Z)

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $-\pi$ and $\pi$ and fill in the markers.

X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'filled')

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $-\pi$ and $\pi$. Use a dashed line style for the stem, set the marker symbols to stars, and set the color to magenta.

figure
X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'--*m')

To specify only two of the three LineSpec options, omit the third option from the character vector. For example, '*m' sets the marker symbol and the color and uses the default line style.

Create a 3-D stem plot and specify the stem locations along a circle. Set the stem to a dotted line style, the marker symbols to stars, and the color to magenta.

figure
theta = linspace(0,2*pi);
X = cos(theta);
Y = sin(theta);
Z = theta;
stem3(X,Y,Z,':*m')

X and Y determine the stem locations. Z determines the marker heights.

Create a 3-D stem plot of cosine values between $-\pi$ and $\pi$. Set the marker symbols to squares with green faces and magenta edges.

figure
X = linspace(-pi,pi,40);
Z = cos(X);
stem3(Z,'Marker','s',...
'MarkerEdgeColor','m',...
'MarkerFaceColor','g')

Starting in R2019b, you can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Create separate stem plots in the axes by specifying the axes object as the first argument to stem3.

X = linspace(-2,2,50);
Y = X.^3;
Z = exp(X);
tiledlayout(2,1)

% Top plot
ax1 = nexttile;
stem(ax1,X,Z)

% Bottom plot
ax2 = nexttile;
stem3(ax2,X,Y,Z)

Create a 3-D stem plot and return the stem series object.

X = linspace(0,2);
Y = X.^3;
Z = exp(X).*cos(Y);
h = stem3(X,Y,Z,'filled');

Change the color to magenta and set the marker face color to yellow. Use view to adjust the angle of the axes in the figure. Use dot notation to set properties.

h.Color = 'm';
h.MarkerFaceColor = 'y';
view(-10,35)

## Input Arguments

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Data sequence to display, specified as a vector or matrix. stem3 plots each element in Z as a stem extending from the xy-plane and terminating at the data value.

• If Z is a row vector, stem3 plots all elements against the same y value at equally spaced x values.

• If Z is a column vector, stem3 plots all elements against the same x value at equally spaced y values.

• If Z is a matrix, stem3 plots each row of Z against the same y value at equally spaced x values.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical

Locations to plot values ofZ, specified as a vector or a matrix. Inputs X, Y and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical

Locations to plot values of Z, specified as a vector or a matrix. Inputs X, Y and Z must be vectors or matrices of the same size.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a character vector or string containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.

Example: '--or' is a red dashed line with circle markers

Line StyleDescriptionResulting Line
'-'Solid line

'--'Dashed line

':'Dotted line

'-.'Dash-dotted line

MarkerDescriptionResulting Marker
'o'Circle

'+'Plus sign

'*'Asterisk

'.'Point

'x'Cross

'_'Horizontal line

'|'Vertical line

's'Square

'd'Diamond

'^'Upward-pointing triangle

'v'Downward-pointing triangle

'>'Right-pointing triangle

'<'Left-pointing triangle

'p'Pentagram

'h'Hexagram

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletAppearance
'red''r'[1 0 0]

'green''g'[0 1 0]

'blue''b'[0 0 1]

'cyan' 'c'[0 1 1]

'magenta''m'[1 0 1]

'yellow''y'[1 1 0]

'black''k'[0 0 0]

'white''w'[1 1 1]

Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then stem plots into the current axes.

### Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional comma-separated pairs of Name,Value arguments. Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name must appear inside quotes. You can specify several name and value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN.

Example: 'LineStyle',':','MarkerFaceColor','red' plots the stem as a dotted line and sets the marker face color to red.

The properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see Stem Properties.

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line StyleDescriptionResulting Line
'-'Solid line

'--'Dashed line

':'Dotted line

'-.'Dash-dotted line

'none'No lineNo line

Line width of stem and marker edge, specified as a positive value in point units.

Example: 0.75

Stem color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
'red''r'[1 0 0]'#FF0000'

'green''g'[0 1 0]'#00FF00'

'blue''b'[0 0 1]'#0000FF'

'cyan' 'c'[0 1 1]'#00FFFF'

'magenta''m'[1 0 1]'#FF00FF'

'yellow''y'[1 1 0]'#FFFF00'

'black''k'[0 0 0]'#000000'

'white''w'[1 1 1]'#FFFFFF'

'none'Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB® uses in many types of plots.

[0 0.4470 0.7410]'#0072BD'

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]'#D95319'

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]'#EDB120'

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]'#7E2F8E'

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]'#77AC30'

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]'#4DBEEE'

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]'#A2142F'

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

Marker symbol, specified as one of the markers listed in this table.

MarkerDescriptionResulting Marker
'o'Circle

'+'Plus sign

'*'Asterisk

'.'Point

'x'Cross

'_'Horizontal line

'|'Vertical line

's'Square

'd'Diamond

'^'Upward-pointing triangle

'v'Downward-pointing triangle

'>'Right-pointing triangle

'<'Left-pointing triangle

'p'Pentagram

'h'Hexagram

'none'No markersNot applicable

Example: '+'

Example: 'diamond'

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

Marker outline color, specified as 'auto', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of 'auto' uses the same color as the Color property.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
'red''r'[1 0 0]'#FF0000'

'green''g'[0 1 0]'#00FF00'

'blue''b'[0 0 1]'#0000FF'

'cyan' 'c'[0 1 1]'#00FFFF'

'magenta''m'[1 0 1]'#FF00FF'

'yellow''y'[1 1 0]'#FFFF00'

'black''k'[0 0 0]'#000000'

'white''w'[1 1 1]'#FFFFFF'

'none'Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

[0 0.4470 0.7410]'#0072BD'

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]'#D95319'

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]'#EDB120'

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]'#7E2F8E'

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]'#77AC30'

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]'#4DBEEE'

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]'#A2142F'

Marker fill color, specified as 'auto', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The 'auto' option uses the same color as the Color property of the parent axes. If you specify 'auto' and the axes plot box is invisible, the marker fill color is the color of the figure.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
'red''r'[1 0 0]'#FF0000'

'green''g'[0 1 0]'#00FF00'

'blue''b'[0 0 1]'#0000FF'

'cyan' 'c'[0 1 1]'#00FFFF'

'magenta''m'[1 0 1]'#FF00FF'

'yellow''y'[1 1 0]'#FFFF00'

'black''k'[0 0 0]'#000000'

'white''w'[1 1 1]'#FFFFFF'

'none'Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

[0 0.4470 0.7410]'#0072BD'

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]'#D95319'

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]'#EDB120'

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]'#7E2F8E'

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]'#77AC30'

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]'#4DBEEE'

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]'#A2142F'

## Output Arguments

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Stem object. This is a unique identifier, which you can use to modify the properties of the Stem object after it is created.

## Extended Capabilities

### Topics

Introduced before R2006a