# Tag «Symbols in R plots»

## Greek letters in R plot label and title

Question: How one can include Greek letter (symbols) in R plot labels?
Answer: Greek letters or symbols can be included in titles and labels of graph using the expression command. Following are some examples

Note that in these example random data is generated from normal distribution. You can use your own data set to produce graphs that have symbols or Greek letters in their labels or titles.

Example 1:

> mycoef <- rnorm (1000)
> hist(mycoef, main = expression(beta) )

where beta in expression is Greek letter (symbol) of $\beta$. A histogram similar to following will be produced.

Example 2:

sample <- rnorm(mean=5, sd=1, n=100)
> hist(sample, main=expression( paste(“sampled values, “, mu, “=5, “, sigma, “=1” )))

where mu and sigma are symbols of $\mu$ and $\sigma$ respectively. Now histogram will look like

Example 3:

curve(dnorm, from= -3, to=3, n=1000, main=”Normal Probability Density Function”)

will produce curve of Normal probability density function ranging from $-3$ to $3$.

To add normal density function formula, we need to use text and paste command, that is

> text(-2, 0.3, expression(f(x)== paste(frac(1, sqrt(2*pi* sigma^2 ) ), ” “, e^{frac(-(x-mu)^2, 2*sigma^2)})), cex=1.2)

Now the updated curve of Normal probability density function will be

Example 4:

x <- dnorm( seq(-3, 3, 0.001))
> plot(seq(-3, 3, 0.001), cumsum(x)/sum(x), type=”l”, col=”blue”, xlab=”x”, main=”Normal Cumulative Distribution Function”)

The Normal Cumulative Distribution function will look like,

To add formula, use text and paste command, that is

text(-1.5, 0.7, expression(phi(x)==paste(frac(1, sqrt(2*pi)), ” “, integral(e^(-t^2/2)*dt, -infinity, x))), cex=1.2)

The Curve of Normal Cumulative Distribution Function and its formula in plot will look like,