How do I create a correct Z matrix from a 'one-value​-per-parti​cipant' variable for contour plot?

Hello, I’m not very familiar with MATLAB and not a good mathematician either. I hope you could help me with contour plots. Let’s say my 3 variables are x=Age (31x1), y=Estimated cranial volume (31x1), and z=Estimated IQ score (31x1). Each variable has only 1 value per participant. When I define my variables and enter the line ‘contour(x,y,z)’, I get a message that my ‘z must be at least 2x2 matrix’. How should I convert my z variable so that it complies to this rule? Thank you.

Answer 1

[Mike Garrity]

Functions like contour want gridded data, and you have scatter data. You'll need to do a gridding operation to convert your data into the correct form.

I wrote about this recently on the MATLAB Graphics blog, but that just covers a few basic techniques. Gridding data is a pretty rich field, and MATLAB has a lot of tools for doing it.

[Joris Alis]

Thanks Mike, I'm reading it now.