In [1]:
%pylab inline
from pandas import read_csv
In [12]:
# Read the data into a pandas DataFrame.
gender_degree_data = read_csv("http://www.randalolson.com/wp-content/uploads/percent-bachelors-degrees-women-usa.csv")
In [13]:
# These are the "Tableau 20" colors as RGB.
tableau20 = [(31, 119, 180), (174, 199, 232), (255, 127, 14), (255, 187, 120),
(44, 160, 44), (152, 223, 138), (214, 39, 40), (255, 152, 150),
(148, 103, 189), (197, 176, 213), (140, 86, 75), (196, 156, 148),
(227, 119, 194), (247, 182, 210), (127, 127, 127), (199, 199, 199),
(188, 189, 34), (219, 219, 141), (23, 190, 207), (158, 218, 229)]
In [14]:
# Scale the RGB values to the [0, 1] range, which is the format matplotlib accepts.
for i in range(len(tableau20)):
r, g, b = tableau20[i]
tableau20[i] = (r / 255., g / 255., b / 255.)
In [20]:
# You typically want your plot to be ~1.33x wider than tall. This plot is a rare
# exception because of the number of lines being plotted on it.
# Common sizes: (10, 7.5) and (12, 9)
figure(figsize=(12, 14))
# Remove the plot frame lines. They are unnecessary chartjunk.
ax = subplot(111)
ax.spines["top"].set_visible(False)
ax.spines["bottom"].set_visible(False)
ax.spines["right"].set_visible(False)
ax.spines["left"].set_visible(False)
# Ensure that the axis ticks only show up on the bottom and left of the plot.
# Ticks on the right and top of the plot are generally unnecessary chartjunk.
ax.get_xaxis().tick_bottom()
ax.get_yaxis().tick_left()
# Limit the range of the plot to only where the data is.
# Avoid unnecessary whitespace.
ylim(0, 90)
xlim(1950, 2014)
# Make sure your axis ticks are large enough to be easily read.
# You don't want your viewers squinting to read your plot.
yticks(range(0, 91, 10), [str(x) + "%" for x in range(0, 91, 10)], fontsize=14)
xticks(fontsize=14)
# Provide tick lines across the plot to help your viewers trace along
# the axis ticks. Make sure that the lines are light and small so they
# don't obscure the primary data lines.
for y in range(10, 91, 10):
plot(range(1968, 2012), [y] * len(range(1968, 2012)), "--", lw=0.5, color="black", alpha=0.3)
# Remove the tick marks; they are unnecessary with the tick lines we just plotted.
plt.tick_params(axis="both", which="both", bottom="off", top="off",
labelbottom="on", left="off", right="off", labelleft="on")
# Now that the plot is prepared, it's time to actually plot the data!
# Note that I plotted the majors in order of the highest % in the final year.
majors = ['Health Professions', 'Public Administration', 'Education', 'Psychology',
'Foreign Languages', 'English', 'Communications\nand Journalism',
'Art and Performance', 'Biology', 'Agriculture',
'Social Sciences and History', 'Business', 'Math and Statistics',
'Architecture', 'Physical Sciences', 'Computer Science',
'Engineering']
for rank, column in enumerate(majors):
# Plot each line separately with its own color, using the Tableau 20
# color set in order.
plot(gender_degree_data.Year.values,
gender_degree_data[column.replace("\n", " ")].values,
lw=2.5, color=tableau20[rank])
# Add a text label to the right end of every line. Most of the code below
# is adding specific offsets y position because some labels overlapped.
y_pos = gender_degree_data[column.replace("\n", " ")].values[-1] - 0.5
if column == "Foreign Languages":
y_pos += 0.5
elif column == "English":
y_pos -= 0.5
elif column == "Communications\nand Journalism":
y_pos += 0.75
elif column == "Art and Performance":
y_pos -= 0.25
elif column == "Agriculture":
y_pos += 1.25
elif column == "Social Sciences and History":
y_pos += 0.25
elif column == "Business":
y_pos -= 0.75
elif column == "Math and Statistics":
y_pos += 0.75
elif column == "Architecture":
y_pos -= 0.75
elif column == "Computer Science":
y_pos += 0.75
elif column == "Engineering":
y_pos -= 0.25
# Again, make sure that all labels are large enough to be easily read
# by the viewer.
text(2011.5, y_pos, column, fontsize=14, color=tableau20[rank])
# matplotlib's title() call centers the title on the plot, but not the graph,
# so I used the text() call to customize where the title goes.
# Make the title big enough so it spans the entire plot, but don't make it
# so big that it requires two lines to show.
# Note that if the title is descriptive enough, it is unnecessary to include
# axis labels; they are self-evident, in this plot's case.
text(1995, 93, "Percentage of Bachelor's degrees conferred to women in the U.S.A."
", by major (1970-2012)", fontsize=17, ha="center")
# Always include your data source(s) and copyright notice! And for your
# data sources, tell your viewers exactly where the data came from,
# preferably with a direct link to the data. Just telling your viewers
# that you used data from the "U.S. Census Bureau" is completely useless:
# the U.S. Census Bureau provides all kinds of data, so how are your
# viewers supposed to know which data set you used?
text(1966, -8, "Data source: nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2013menu_tables.asp"
"\nAuthor: Randy Olson (randalolson.com / @randal_olson)"
"\nNote: Some majors are missing because the historical data "
"is not available for them", fontsize=10)
# Finally, save the figure as a PNG.
# You can also save it as a PDF, JPEG, etc.
# Just change the file extension in this call.
# bbox_inches="tight" removes all the extra whitespace on the edges of your plot.
savefig("percent-bachelors-degrees-women-usa.png", bbox_inches="tight");
In [ ]: