# New behavior of PlotRange in Mathematica 10

In Mathematica 10, when I plot data that has small changes around some non-zero value, the plot chooses a PlotRange that "collapses" the data so that the variations cannot be seen. The only way I can find to reproduce the results seen in prior versions is to manually set the PlotRange. Is this a bug? Is there a way to redefine the function that computes PlotRange?

Here is a simple example of the problem I have.

dat = {{7.36107564302725094634299*^-8,6.49517319445169858694755},
{1.872486493499905555253878*^-7,6.495173287782000920228519},
{3.295280057690389061023151*^-7,6.495173324963207553515714},
{4.742955045429201620632748*^-7,6.495173299191079237788739},
{5.950099990519129421821797*^-7,6.495173215270764724855183},
{6.695807917858125246686823*^-7,6.495173088580509534386944},
{6.843647194344045088159516*^-7,6.495172942307050194820725}};

ylim = {Min[#], Max[#]} &[#[[2]] & /@ dat]

ListLinePlot[dat, PlotRange -> All]


ListLinePlot[dat, PlotRange -> {All, ylim}]


In Mathematica version 9

ListLinePlot[dat, PlotRange -> All]


• Greg, it seems to me that Mr. Wizard's exhaustive answer below solved your problem. You might consider marking his answer as accepted by clicking the grey check mark next to it. – MarcoB Jul 11 '15 at 3:37

After some spelunking it appears I have an answer and solution: the behavior is as intended, and it is controlled by a Method option "AllowMicroRanges".

ListLinePlot[dat,
PlotRange -> Full,
Method -> {"AllowMicroRanges" -> #}
] & /@ {True, False}


It seems this option may also be given directly, outside of Method, but if you wish to control the default for this option without setting an overall Method you must set it for SystemProtoPlotDumpiListPlot or you get a "... is not a known option for ListLinePlot" message.

SetOptions[SystemProtoPlotDumpiListPlot, "AllowMicroRanges" -> True]

• The Plot documentation has no Method section. Is there a list of available Method options somewhere (on this side or at wolfram.com)? Or is spelunking the only way to find them? – Karsten 7. Jul 9 '15 at 0:06
• @Karsten The documentation shows that Method is one of the options of Plot and ListPlot but ends there as far as I know. It seems that often Method is not documented; I suspect it is primarily (intended to be) used by support to solve specific issues. Spelunking iListPlot reveals this explicit list of methods: {"ScalingFunctions", "MappingFunctions", "DomainMappingFunctions", "AxisPadding", "DomainPadding", "RangePadding", "PointSizeFunction", "AllowMicroRanges", "OptimizePlotMarkers", "DefaultMeshStyle"}. – Mr.Wizard Jul 9 '15 at 0:14
• Thanks a lot. Options[SystemProtoPlotDumpiListPlot] makes me see them too. – Karsten 7. Jul 9 '15 at 0:24
• @Karsten That gets most of them but it is not necessarily complete. Where possible reading the implementation itself is more reliable. In this case it reveals "MappingFunctions" and "DomainMappingFunctions". – Mr.Wizard Jul 9 '15 at 1:14
• @mrz I only know either trial and error, or reading the definition of SystemProtoPlotDumpiListPlot itself to see how the options are being used. See (1742) if you choose the latter. – Mr.Wizard Jun 2 '16 at 19:54