Scatterplots in ggplot2

You will learn the layered syntax of ggplot2 for scatterplots in this section. It also demonstrates how regression lines can be added (compared with the base-R syntax shown in the introductory video).

Basic scatter plots

Simple scatter plots are created using the R code below. The color, size, and shape of points can be changed using the function geom_point() as follow:

geom_point(size, color, shape)

library(ggplot2)
# Basic scatter plot
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg)) + geom_point()
# Change the point size, and shape
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg)) +
  geom_point(size=2, shape=23)

Note that, the size of the points can be controlled by the values of a continuous variable as in the example below.

# Change the point size
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg)) + 
  geom_point(aes(size=qsec))