In a 3D plot, what are the independent and dependent variables?

When using the plot3() command, which inputs are the independent variables and which inputs are dependent variables?

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

The first two arguments to plot3() (usually ‘X’ and ‘Y’) are the independent variables. The third (usually ‘Z’) is the dependent variable. (This is the same for surf(), mesh(), and contour() plots.)

[Ibrahim Omar]

thank you!

[Image Analyst]

The key word is "usually". Sometimes that's not the case. for example sometimes I plot the vertical profile of an image (so it's "sideways" to the left of the image) where y is the row number (independent) and x is the mean gray level. So like I said below, you could have whatever you want be dependent or independent in your mind - plot3() (unlike surf) really doesn't care whatsoever what you consider to be dependent or independent. Use whatever is convenient for you for your dependent variable - the first, second, or third argument.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

It's whatever you want. plot3() doesn't care - it simply puts a marker at every corresponding (x,y,z) location.