matplotlib set_rmax and set_rticks not working

Question

I am using python3 in an anaconda jupyter notebook and am plotting graphs in polar coordinates. I want all the graphs to have the same rmax and rticks, but when I set them, they are not applied and the points aren't plotted correctly. Here is my code, without and then with them.

%pylab inline
X = asarray([[0.23, 0.73],[0.22, 1.16],[0.18, 1.86],[0.17, 2.39],[0.24, 2.74],[0.16, 3.43],[0.16, 3.87],[0.13, 4.39],[0.14, 5.00],[0.17, 5.53]])

ax0 = subplot(111, projection='polar')
ax0.plot(X[:,1], X[:,0], 'r+')
show()

ax1 = subplot(111, projection='polar')
ax1.set_rmax(0.8)
ax1.set_rticks([0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8])
ax1.plot(X[:,1], X[:,0], 'r+')
show()

Here are the plots.

Answer 1

The problem is that you are first setting the rmax and then plotting your polar chart. So once you plot, the limits are automatically adjusted and your set rmax and rticks are overwritten.

The solution is to first plot and then set the rmax and rticks as shown below.

ax1 = plt.subplot(111, projection='polar')
ax1.plot(X[:,1], X[:,0], 'r+')
ax1.set_rmax(0.8)
ax1.set_rticks([0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8])