Adding text descriptions to graphs

Sometimes, we might wish to add descriptions to a graph, say if we are producing a PDF for a presentation or as a handout with notes. In this recipe, we will learn how to add text descriptions in the margins of a graph, instead of having to add them separately in another program.

Getting ready

We are only using the base graphics functions for this recipe. So, just open up the R prompt and type in the following code. You might wish to save the code as an R script for later use.

How to do it...

Let's plot a random normal distribution and add a little bit of description after the graph:

par(mar=c(12,4,3,2)) plot(rnorm(1000),main="Random Normal Distribution") desc<-expression(paste("The normal distribution has density ...

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