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ScalarFormatter.set_powerlimits documentation seems inconsistent #15376
Description
Bug report
Documentation says:
set_powerlimits(self, lims)[source]
Sets size thresholds for scientific notation.
(min_exp, max_exp)
A tuple containing the powers of 10 that determine the switchover threshold. Numbers below 10**min_exp and above 10**max_exp will be displayed in scientific notation.
However
sFormatter = matplotlib.ticker.ScalarFormatter(useOffset=False, useMathText=True)
sFormatter.set_powerlimits((-2, 2))
plt.plot([120,130,140],[0.03,0.05,0.08])
plt.gca().xaxis.set_major_formatter(sFormatter)
plt.gca().yaxis.set_major_formatter(sFormatter)
does use scientific notation on the y axis but not the x axis. The the correct description of the actual behaviour seems to be
A tuple containing the powers of 10 that determine the switchover threshold. Numbers with absolute values below 10**(min_exp+1) and above 10**(max_exp+1) will be displayed in scientific notation.
Or it is a bug (would make more sense if the original description were correct).
Activity
ImportanceOfBeingErnest commented on Oct 3, 2019
A confusing bit is that you are using the same formatter for both axes. If using a dedicated formatter per axis it would give
Still, the sentence in the documentation remains incorrect (or at least not detailed enough), as seen from the y axis.
anntzer commented on Oct 4, 2019
As a general rule a single formatter instance cannot be used across multiple axises --- though #13482 fixes that :)
timhoffm commented on Jun 8, 2020
Reusing formatters is off-topic.
The actual issue is a documentation issue. IMHO it's not a bug, but one has to think about the limits in the right way, see #17590.