Matplotlib subplots vs axes vs axis (singular / plural)

Question

Can you please clarify some Matplotlib terminology:

• is the word \"subplots\" (or \"subplot\"?) synonymous to \"axes\"?
• what are singulars / plurals of \"a

Answer 1

Axes is the plural of axis. A subplot usually has an x-axis and a y-axis, which together form the two axes of the subplot.

Let's talk in terms of function/class names:

Figure.add_subplot or pyplot.subplot return a AxesSubplot object. This in turn contains a XAxis and a YAxis object.

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
x = ax.xaxis

print(type(ax))   # matplotlib.axes._subplots.AxesSubplot
print(type(x))    # matplotlib.axis.XAxis

XAxis is derived from base class Axis. AxesSubplot is derived from SubplotBase and Axes.