WINPLOT TUTORIAL I. What is WinPlot WinPlot is graphing software specifically designed to be compatible with MS Word.

The software is freeware, meaning that it is a free download. You can download the software from http://math.exeter.edu/rparris/winplot.html. After you are taken to the web page download the version of WinPlot appropriate for your operating system. Note that all of the graphs in this document were created using WinPlot. II. WinPlot overview The icon to open WinPlot that should appear on your desktop after you download the program is:

Shortcut to winplot.lnk

Double-click on the icon to start WinPlot. This will open the WinPlot window. You will want to select Window from the WinPlot taskbar. Practically all of our graphing will take place using two-dimensions, so after selecting Window from the taskbar, then click on 2-dim. We will now look at the items in the WinPlot menu that we will use and point out the features that we will need. A. File The most important features for us under File are 1. Save as This is the exact same feature as in Word. It is where you do your first save of a file to give it a name. 2. Save This is also the exact same feature as in Word. It is how you save a file that you are working on and have modified. 3. Copy to clipboard

This is also the exact same feature as in Word. It copies your current file to the clipboard so that you can paste it into a Word document. Once you have your WinPlot file copied to the clipboard, go to the Word document; locate where you want the graph to be, and then paste. Ctrl-v will paste from the clipboard or you can find it under Edit in Word or on the tool bar. Chances are you will have to re-size and re-position your WinPlot file in your Word document. This is done just like re-sizing and repositioning anything in a Word document. B. Equa This menu item is where you will be doing most of your work. We will utilize most of the items under Equa at some point. Here are the ones that we will be using. Note that if it does not appear in this list, we will not be using it. 1. Explicit This is used if your equation is solved for y, which is to say it is of the form y = something about x. It is also utilized if you have functional notation, like f(x) = something about x. When you click on it, you type the expression in x in the box after f(x). For example, if you had y = 2x 3 or f(x) = 2x 3, you would just type 2x 3. You may choose a color for the graph as well. The pen width option, when checked, is a way to thicken your graph. The larger the pen width, the thicker the graph. When you are ready to have WinPlot draw your graph, click ok. 2. Implicit This is used of your equation is not solved for y. For example if you have an equation like x2 3y = 5 or x = 3. In the box, you would type your equation. Use the caret, ^, which is the shift of the 6-key to enter exponents. So, for x2 3y = 5, we would enter x^2 3*y = 5. Notice that you have to enter the equal sign. Again, you

may choose a color and pen width for your graph, and then click ok. 3. Point This is used to plot a point in the plane, like (3, -4). When you click on this selection, you need to click on the first choice (x, y), and then enter x, and then enter y. You then choose to you want a solid dot, like , or circle or open dot, like . You may also choose the color of your dot. Dot size will increase the size of your dot. The larger the number in the box, the larger the dot will be. The anchors option, when checked will draw dotted lines from the point to the coordinate axes to form a rectangle. When you are ready to plot your point, click ok. 4. Segment This is used to draw a line segment connecting the points ( x1, y1) and (x2, y2). After selecting this item, enter each of x1, y1, x2, and y2. Then you can choose to have the line segment be solid, dotted, or dashed. If you check the points box, the endpoints of the segment will appear as dots like . You may choose a color and pen width for your graph, and then click ok. 5. Line This is used to draw a straight line from its standard equation, which is Ax + By = C. When you click on Line, you will enter the values of A, B, and C. Note that in WinPlot, lowercase letters are used. You may also choose from the following options: solid, dotted, dashed, color, and pen width. Click ok when you are ready to have your line graphed. 6. Inventory

This is used to show you all of the equations, points, segments, etc. that you are currently working on. When you click on it, you will be shown all of your current items. Highlight any of them to perform any sort of editing, including deleting them from the inventory. You may also choose to have the equation be displayed or hidden here as well. 7. Library This gives a list of all the built-in functions for WinPlot, like the trig functions or exponential and log functions. C. View The most important features for us under View are 1. Zoom This is used to zoom in and out so that you can see more of a graph or focus in on a small piece of the graph. 2. Implicit redraw Check this option so that all of you implicit graphs will be redrawn should you zoom in or out after your initial graphing. This feature is either checked or unchecked. You toggle between the two by clicking on it. 3. Grid This is used to set many options about the appearance of the xyplane, which is the grid. We now explore each of these options that appear when you click on Grid. a. axes Check this box if you want either or both of the coordinate axes to be drawn with your graph. For graphing on the plane, you will select the radio button that says both. For

graphing on a number line, you will select the radio button that says x. Only the x-axis will be drawn then. Click on apply to see the change take effect. b. ticks Check this box if you want to see the tick marks on the axes. Uncheck it if you do not want to see the tick marks on the axes. Click on apply to see the change take effect. c. arrows Check this box if you want to see arrowheads on the axes that point in the positive directions. Uncheck it if you do not want to see the arrowheads. Click on apply to see the change take effect. d. dots Check this box if you want to see a dot (it will not be very noticeable) whenever two gridlines intersect. Uncheck it if you do not want to see the dots. The difference between the two is very subtle. Click on apply to see the change take effect. e. labels Check this box if you want to see the x- and y-axes labeled as x and y, respectively. Uncheck it if you do not want to see the axes labeled. Click on apply to see the change take effect. f. interval Should usually be set to 1.000000. This is how far apart the tick marks are on the axes. Click on apply to see the change take effect.

g.

scale Check this box to have the scales appear on the axes if axes radio button is selected for mark scale on: You can also have the scales appear on the border of the plane by selecting the border radio button. Click on apply to see the change take effect.

h.

grid section 1. dotted Check this box to have the grid lines appear as dotted gray lines. Uncheck it to have the grid lines appear as solid gray lines. Click on apply to see the change take effect. 2. rectangular Checking this box turns the grid lines on. If it is unchecked, then the grid lines will not be visible. Sometimes it is desirable to have the gridlines be invisible since it makes the graph look less busy. Click on apply to see the change take effect. 3. quadrants Check the box or boxes of the quadrants that should have grid lines. Typically, all for are checked. Click on apply to see the change take effect.

Click on apply to see all your changes take effect, and then click close when you are finished. 4. Axes

We will now explore some of the choices under this item that we will use. a. Axes Selecting this item draws the axes on the graph. If you deselect it, the axes will not be drawn on your graph. A check mark appears beside it if it has been selected. b. Color You may pick a color from the palette if you want a color other than black for the coordinate axes. c. Solid arrowheads Selecting and de-selecting this item changes the appearance of the arrowheads on the axes if you have chosen to have them appear. It does not make them appear. That is done under Grid. 5. Gridlines You may change the appearance of the gridlines in this menu item. D. Btns 1. Text Clicking on this choice allows you to type text on the graph. It is a good idea to always have this choice selected. If you do not, the default is to re-center the graph whenever you right-click on the plane. By selecting text, whenever you right-click on the plane, you open the text box that allows you to type text, choose its font, color, etc. You can re-position the text anywhere in the plane by holding down the left mouse button and dragging it to its new location.

E.

For the rest of our discussion, it is assumed that you have opened WinPlot and have already clicked on 2-dim from the initial window. If you have done this, you will see a blank coordinate plane except for the axes and the grid lines if you have them turned on. We will also assume that when you are finished with your graph, the you will copy it to the clipboard so that it can be pasted into your Word document. Copy to clipboard is under File. To paste from the clipboard, you can press ctrl-v or click on the icon on the Word toolbar.

III.

Graphing on the Number Line Sometimes you have to graph inequalities on the number line. WinPlot actually assumes that you are graphing on the xy-plane, so it will be necessary to turn off one of the axes. Traditionally, the number line has been thought of as being horizontal, so we will turn off the y-axis. Remember that you turn off an axis by following this sequence of menu items: View Grid and then turn off the radio button of the axis you want off. Keep in mind that a solid dot indicates that a number is part of the graph, and an open dot or circle means that the number is not part of the graph. Examples: Graph the following on the number line. 1. 2 x < 3 Solution: First, we turned off the y-axis in View, grid, and checking the x radio button. We also unchecked all boxes in the grid section since we were not wanting our graph to appear to be two-dimensional. Next we need a solid dot at x = -2. But since we are still really on the plane, we gave coordinates of (-2, 0) under Equa, then point and we selected solid. To make the dot more visible, we increased its size to 5. Third we put an open dot or circle at (3, 0). We also increased the size of this dot to 5. Lastly, we drew a segment from (-2, 0) to (2.9, 0). We did not go all the way to (3, 0) since this would cover up the open dot. This is under Equa, then

segment. We chose a thicker pen width to make it stand out. We then copied it to the clipboard (File, then copy to clipboard) and pasted it here (ctrl-v). And of course, we re-sized and re-positioned it, too.

2.

x > -3 Solution: Similar procedure as above, but to indicate the segment goes on forever to the right, we chose to connect (-2.9, 0) to a point that is off the plane, like (10, 0). The result is given below.

3.

x 2.5 Solution: We placed a solid dot at (2.5, 0) and increased its size to 5. In order to have the graph keep going to the left, we drew a segment from (-10, 0) to (2.5, 0) and we increased its pen width. The result is given below.

IV.

Graphing equations on the plane When graphing an equation on the plane there are several options available to us. Which option we choose usually depends on the form of the equation. With a little algebraic manipulation of the equation our choices can become interchangeable. A. Equation is not solved for y. We will use the Implicit choice under Equa. As a specific example, we will graph the equation 3x 5y = 2. Method: Step1: Click on Equa. Step 2: Click on Implicit. Step 3: In the box at the top of the Implicit window there is already and equation that says xx + yy = 13. Just type over this equation with the equation you want to graph, in our case 3x 5y = 2. Step 4: Click ok. The graph is drawn and popup window appears with the above equation as the first equation of our inventory. There are several options available to you to work with this equation. Perhaps the most useful are Edit, delete, and show equation. The graph appears below.
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

Usually, I like to turn the grid lines off so that the graph will look less busy. Remember that to turn off the grid lines, you go to View, then grid, then uncheck rectangular at the bottom of the grid pop up window. Now let us try to graph x2 3y = 4. To type x2, you can type xx or x^2 in the equation box. Repeat the steps above to get the following graph. Note, that I closed the window for our previous example and started again with a new set of axes, otherwise, the two graphs would appear on the same plane. If you do intend to have several graphs on one set of axes, then you should use different colors for each one and show the equation for each one. Please do not select white as a color for any of your graphs. I have also turned off the grid lines.

4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

B.

Equation is solved for y. 1. 2. We can follow the same procedure as we did above. We can also use Explicit under Equa. For a specific example, let us graph the equation y = 3x - 2. Step 1: Click on Equa. Step 2: Click on Explicit.

Step 3: In the very top box there will appear the expression xsin(x). Just type our expression over this one. We only type what is on the right side of the equals sign, in our case 3x - 2. For x, we can type sqr(x) or sqrt(x), your choice. I typed the following into the box: 3sqrt(x) 2. Step 4: Click ok. The following graph appeared.
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

C.

Functions These are also graphed using Explicit. You do not need to type in the f(x) part. For example, if we wanted to graph f(x) = 3x 2, we would just type in 3x 2 in the box.

D.

Lines 1. If the equation is not solved for y, you would use Implicit, and type in the equation. 2. If the equation is solved for y, then you can use either Implicit or Explicit. If you use Explicit, you just type what is on the right side of the equals sign. For example, if you had y = 2 3x, you would just type in 2 3x.

3.

WinPlot allows for a third way to graph a line if it is in standard form, which is Ax + By = C. Be aware that WinPlot uses lowercase a, b, and c. As an example, we will graph 2 x 4y = -3. Follow these steps: Step 1: Click on Equa. Step 2: Click on Line. Step 3: In the pop up window you will enter the values for a, b, and c. In our case, a = 2, b = -4, and c = -3. Notice that you can choose a pen width for your line, as well as color. You can also choose if your line is solid, dotted, or dashed. I have chosen solid. Step 4: Click ok when you are finished. The graph is shown below:
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

V.

Graphing inequalities on the plane To avoid undue complications, we will do everything as Implicit. A. One inequality As an example, we will graph 2x 3y < 4. Step 1: Click on Equa. Step 2: Click on Implicit. Step 3: Type in 2x 3y = 4. Notice that we have changed the inequality into an equation. Step 4: Click ok. The graph should appear on the axes.

Step 5: Click on Equa. Step 6: Click on Implicit inequalities Step 7: When the pop up box appears, high light 2x 3y = 4. Step 8: Click on change = to <. Our inequality should now appear in the middle dialog box. Step 9: Choose a color for the region and the click show region. The shaded region should appear as below:
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

Technically, since we had < as opposed to , our line should be dotted rather than solid, but we will not worry about that. However, you do need to know that fact for tests. See if you can get the following graph for y x2 3.
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

B.

Systems of inequalities

Graphing a system of inequalities involves graphing each separate inequality on the same set of axes. WinPlot will do the overlapping graphing for you. As an example, lets graph the following system: 2x 3y 4 y > - x + 3 x -1. Following the procedure given above we graph each separate inequality. If you watch the graph after each change from equals to the appropriate inequality, you will see the shaded region changing. Below is the graph that I got. I have typed in each lines equation.
4

y = (-1/2)x + 3 x = -1
4 3 2 1

3 2 1 1 1 2 3 4 2 3 4 5

2x - 3y = 4

One last system: 2x y 3 x + 2y 4 x0 y > -3

x + 2y = 4
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 3 4

2x - y = 3

x=0 y = -3

3 4