Use a Histogram node in 1D () or 2D () to plot a histogram that shows how a quantity is distributed over the geometry (mesh volume). In 1D histograms, the x-axis in the histogram represents the values of the quantity (as a number of bins or a range of values), and the y-axis represents the count of the total element volume in each interval. You can also view the histogram as a plot showing the area between contours or isosurfaces. In 2D histograms, the x-axis and y-axis represent the values of two quantities (as a number of bins or a range of values), and the color surface represents the count of the total element volume in each “bin”. The histogram can be normalized and also displayed as a cumulative plot, and it can appear as a discrete or a continuous function. You can use a histogram with settings that provide a bar chart of, for example, the distribution of values in different ranges. Right-click a 1D Plot Group or 2D Plot Group to add this plot. For the 2D Plot Group, select this from the More Surface Plots submenu. Add a Filter, Height Expression (2D only), and Transparency or Visual Effects (2D with Height Expression only) subnodes if required.

Select the Plot on secondary y-axis check box to plot the y-axis data on the secondary y-axis to the right of the plot instead of the primary y-axis to the left of the plot.

Select an Entry method — Number of bins or Limits — to define the bins for the histogram’s x-axis. Select Number of bins (the default) to specify the number of bins (default is 10), or select Limits to specify a range of limits (1 2 3 4, for example) for the histogram bins.

For 2D Histogram nodes, these settings are available for the x direction and y direction under x bins and y bins.

Under Output, specify some properties for the appearance of the histogram. Specify whether to use a continuous or discrete function for the histogram, the normalization, and whether to use a standard or a cumulative histogram.

From the Function list, select Continuous (the default) to plot the histogram as a continuous function or Discrete to plot it as a discrete function (that is, using a constant level in each bin). The discrete version is useful to display the histogram as a bar chart, perhaps with the Integral normalization setting so that each bin (bar) shows its relative size and the Type set to Solid under Coloring and Style for filled histogram bins.

From the Normalization list, select:

Select the Cumulative check box to make the histogram cumulative (that is, the value in each bin is the sum of the values for all bins up to the current one).

From the Measure list, choose Auto (the default); Integral, for volume-based data; or Count, for element-based data. The Auto option uses a measure that depends on the dataset that is used. For Mesh datasets, the element-based measure (Count) is used: otherwise, the volume-based measure (Integral) is used.

Specify the Space dimension and the Geometry level for the evaluation. By default, the settings are taken from the dataset. For a specific model, some space dimensions and geometry levels might not be applicable.

From the Space dimension list, select From dataset (the default) or one of the space dimensions 0, 1, 2, or 3. The default is sufficient except when the dataset is, for example, a cut plane, which can be evaluated for space dimensions 2 or 3.

From the Geometry level list, select From dataset (the default), Volume, Surface, Line, or Point. Using a geometry level other than the dataset can be useful, for example, for evaluating over the surfaces of a 3D geometry. For solution datasets, From dataset defaults to the highest dimension where there are any mesh elements.

This section is available in 1D plot groups only. Select the Show legends check box to display the plotted expressions to the right of the plot. In plots where each line represents a certain time value, eigenvalue, or parameter value, these values are also displayed.

When Automatic is selected from the Legends list (the default), select or clear the Label, Solution, Description, Expression, and Unit check boxes under Include to control what to include in the automatic legends (by default, it includes the solution only). If Manual is selected from the Legends list, enter your own legend text into the table. If Evaluated is selected, you can use the eval function to create an evaluated legend text in the Legend field that include evaluated global expressions such as global parameters used in sweeps. For the numerical evaluation, you can control the precision in the Precision field (default: 3).