# AbsoluteOptions doesn't return correct option value of Ticks?

I just come across a function called AbsoluteOptions when trying to figure out the specific option value of Ticks -> Automatic in Plot, which, as said in its document, will give "the actual settings for options used internally by the Wolfram Language when the setting given is Automatic or All", but it seems not to work properly. Consider the following example:

p1 = Plot[Sin[x], {x, 0, 4}]
option = First@AbsoluteOptions[p1, Ticks];
p2 = Plot[Sin[x], {x, 0, 4}, Evaluate@option]


Apparently p1 and p2 are different, what have I missed?

If AbsoluteOptions just doesn't work, how can I find the specific value of default setting of Ticks?

I'm still using v9.0.1.

• Yep, long standing problem. AbsoluteOptions is just a rough approximation. I believe that might be because AbsoluteOptions is implemented within the kernel while the automatic graphics features are really computed by the front end, based on things such as the size of text based on available fonts, etc. that the kernel has no access to. But I might be wrong. – Szabolcs Oct 18 '15 at 15:50
• AbsoluteOptions for graphics and FullGraphics last worked properly in version 5. Perhaps you should report it as a bug, although I'm sure many people have done already in the 8 years since version 6 was released. I don't hold out much hope that these will be fixed in the near future. – Oleksandr R. Oct 18 '15 at 16:19
• Searching for those two functions here should give you a list of questions about problems that are effectively the same as yours. It really is annoying that these two have been seemingly abandoned. – J. M. is away Oct 18 '15 at 16:44
• @xzczd Yes, I realized that. As I understand it, however, I'm afraid that this community will not be able to answer your question meaningfully since it seems that the function has been more or less abandoned, so I took your opportunity to make the connection the fact that the same annoying problem persists even in more recent versions of Mathematica. (+1) – MarcoB Oct 19 '15 at 3:22
• I'm frustrated about AbsolutOptions, too - but have to agree with @MarcoB that this appears to be a dead horse (or perhaps a deceased parrot). – Jens Oct 19 '15 at 4:30