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Contours

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is an option for contour plots that specifies the contours to draw.

Details

  • The following settings can be given for Contours:
  • ncontours at n equally spaced levels
    Automaticcontours chosen automatically
    {Automatic,n}at most n contours chosen automatically
    {f1,f2,…}contours at levels fi
    {{f1,gr1},…}contours drawn with graphics directives gri
    funca function to be applied to zmin, zmax to get the list of contours
  • With Automatic settings, "nice" equally spaced contour levels are chosen, whose values minimize the number of digits in their decimal representation.
  • In ContourPlot and ListContourPlot, Contours specifies contour lines.
  • In ContourPlot3D and ListContourPlot3D, Contours specifies contour surfaces.
  • ContourPlot and ContourPlot3D let you give an equation f==g or a list of equations as a way to specify single contours to draw.

Examples

Basic Examples  (4)Summary of the most common use cases

Automatically select contours:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0y74n4-3rz38p
Out[1]=1

Select three equally spaced contours:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0y74n4-lt5zvu
Out[1]=1

Specify an explicit set of contours:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0y74n4-xm92nh
Out[1]=1

Select five contour surfaces in three dimensions:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0y74n4-f9b0u1
Out[1]=1
Wolfram Research (1991), Contours, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html (updated 2007).
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Wolfram Research (1991), Contours, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html (updated 2007).

Text

Wolfram Research (1991), Contours, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html (updated 2007).

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Wolfram Research (1991), Contours, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html (updated 2007).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1991. "Contours." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2007. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html.

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Wolfram Language. 1991. "Contours." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2007. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1991). Contours. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html

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Wolfram Language. (1991). Contours. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_contours, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Contours}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html}", note=[Accessed: 14-March-2025 ]}

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@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_contours, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Contours}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html}", note=[Accessed: 14-March-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_contours, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Contours}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html}, note=[Accessed: 14-March-2025 ]}

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@online{reference.wolfram_2025_contours, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Contours}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Contours.html}, note=[Accessed: 14-March-2025 ]}