How to create a Contour plot?

Hello, I need to create a contour plot of a column vector, but keep getting the error that Z must be a 2X2 matrix. Is there any way of just arbitrarily assigning another column to Z data and going ahead with the plotting?

So far, my Z matrix has 1 column and 233 rows. I have to basically create a pseudosection(contour of Z) vs. depth which goes up to 13.5 meters and horizontal distance along ground that is 27 m. Please help, am willing to provide any other information if it helps. Thank you.

Ashley

[Walter Roberson]

Do you mean that you have X, Y, Z vectors giving scattered 2D coordinates at which the Z is known? Or are X, Y regular grids at which Z is known?

[Image Analyst]

Yes, provide the other information because I've read your post 5 times and can't figure it out. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/6200-tutorial-how-to-ask-a-question-on-answers-and-get-a-fast-answer

[Ashley]

Hello, I have X,Y and Z matrices which are basically 234 X 1 Column Vectors. It keeps saying that I have to have Z be a 2X2 matrix, and that X needs to match the number of columns in Z, etc. How do I make a 2X2 matrix out of a 234 X 1 column vector? Hope this makes sense. Thank you. Ashley

Answer 1

[sixwwwwww]

Dear Ashley, in order to create contour plot you need to have Z as a matrix not as a vector. Also if you have X and Y vectors of 234 length then you will need Z a matrix of size 234x234 to use

contour(X, Y, Z)

See for more information about "contour": http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/contour.html Otherwise you need to use plot3 accept Z as a vector as in your case

plot3(X, Y, Z)

See for more information about "plot3": http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/plot3.html

[Ashley]

Hello, Yes, however that is my question! How do I create a 234X234 matrix out of a 234X1 column vector? Is there a function or way of doing this? Thank you.

Ashley

[sixwwwwww]

You can repeat Z vector 234 times like this:

Z = rand(234,1); % put your Z vector here
ZZ = zeros(length(Z), length(Z));
for i = 1:length(Z)
    ZZ(:,i) = Z(:);
end