Re: st: horizontal box plots and log scale

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

This is a FAQ. See

FAQ     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Box plots and logarithmic scales
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        9/05    How can I best get box plots on logarithmic scales?
                http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/graphics/boxandlog.html

The essence of the problem is that -xsc(log)- just takes the graph you
would have otherwise and transforms it logarithmically. You must
transform the data first, draw the box plot, and then fix the axis
labels.

-mylabels- (SSC) may help with the last.

I think you are wrong about Stata version here: this is in principle a
problem with any version of Stata and a wired in boxplot command.

Nick

On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:53 AM, Susanna Cramb
<SusannaCramb@cancerqld.org.au> wrote:

> I am having difficulties in generating horizontal box plots on the log scale.
>
> I am using Stata/SE 12.1 for Windows (32-bit), although I also have the problem with the same version under (64-bit) and also Stata/SE 11.2 for Windows (32-bit). I did not have this problem when using earlier versions of Stata.
>
> If I run the following example from the graph box help file, Stata generates the graph as expected:
>
> sysuse nlsw88, clear
> graph hbox wage, over(ind, sort(1)) nooutside ytitle("") title("Hourly wage, 1988, woman aged 34-46", span) subtitle(" ") note( "Source:  1988 data from NLS, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics" , span)
>
> However, if I request it on the log scale, as in the following code, I obtain a horizontal box plot where all the categories are squished on top of each other at the very top of the graph, while the horizontal axis remains unchanged.
>
> sysuse nlsw88, clear
> graph hbox wage, over(ind, sort(1)) nooutside ytitle("") title("Hourly wage, 1988, woman aged 34-46", span) subtitle(" ") note( "Source:  1988 data from NLS, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics" , span) yscale(log)
>
> Has anyone else had this problem, and is there any solution?
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