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is an option for plotting functions that specifies how many initial sample points to use.


PlotPoints
is an option for plotting functions that specifies how many initial sample points to use.
Details

- With a single variable, PlotPoints->n specifies the total number of initial sample points to use.
- With more than one variable, PlotPoints->n specifies that n initial points should be used in each direction.
- PlotPoints->{n1,n2,…} specifies different numbers of initial sample points for each successive direction.
- The initial sample points are usually equally spaced.
- Adaptive procedures controlled by MaxRecursion are used to choose more sample points.
Examples
Basic Examples (4)
Use 10 points in each direction:
MaxRecursion will cause additional sampling beyond the initial 10 points:
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Introduced in 1988 (1.0) | Updated in 2007 (6.0)
Text
Wolfram Research (1988), PlotPoints, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotPoints.html (updated 2007).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1988. "PlotPoints." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2007. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotPoints.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1988). PlotPoints. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotPoints.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_plotpoints, author="Wolfram Research", title="{PlotPoints}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotPoints.html}", note=[Accessed: 05-October-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_plotpoints, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={PlotPoints}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlotPoints.html}, note=[Accessed: 05-October-2025]}