# How do I change the scale on a plot so different parts of the axis are on different scales?

I have to make a simple plot using the Plot function. However on the $x$ axis I want the scale to be such that it initially shows a zoom up of $0$ to $1$, and then the scale compresses and shows from, say, $100$ to $10000$. How to achieve that? I have tried a lot of different functions including Zoom and Show, but none seem to work.

• This seems to be a duplicate, see e.g. How does one set a logarithmic scale in a ContourPlot? Mar 11 '16 at 16:33
• Thanks. That might work. However is there no other alternative method? Mar 11 '16 at 16:42
• You could take a look at Generating a broken or snipped axis in ListPlot and solutions therein. Perhaps something could be adapted. Mar 11 '16 at 16:50
• What happens between 1 and 100? Mar 11 '16 at 17:08
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– user9660
Mar 11 '16 at 17:18

You can split your X interval into several subintervals and sample your function inside every interval with step proportional to current interval length. Then use ListPlot to show all sampled values and relabel X-axis ticks.

f[x_] := Sin[x] + 1.5;
nPoints = 1000.0;
edges = {0, 2 Pi, 10 Pi, 100 Pi};
intervals = Partition[#, 2, 1] &@edges;
points = Flatten[
Range[#[[1]], #[[2]], (#[[2]] - #[[1]])/nPoints][[1 ;; -2]] & /@
intervals];
ticks = Transpose@{Range[1, Length@edges*nPoints, nPoints], edges};

Show[ListPlot[f[points], Ticks -> {ticks, Automatic}]]


How about if you just use a simple Manipulate statement? For example:

Manipulate[Plot[x, {x, 0, a}], {a, {1, 100, 1000}}]


That should work. Even more, you can choose the plot options according to your choice of a, that you can figure it out.

• Thanks guys. LogLinearPlot worked fine for me. Mar 12 '16 at 5:14
• @BudhadityaBhattacharjee .. interesting... how is a log scale a zoom in? But I'm glad you got what you wanted. Mar 14 '16 at 22:06