Overlay normal curve to histogram in R

StanLe picture StanLe · Nov 19, 2013 · Viewed 210.3k times · Source

I have managed to find online how to overlay a normal curve to a histogram in R, but I would like to retain the normal "frequency" y-axis of a histogram. See two code segments below, and notice how in the second, the y-axis is replaced with "density". How can I keep that y-axis as "frequency", as it is in the first plot.

AS A BONUS: I'd like to mark the SD regions (up to 3 SD) on the density curve as well. How can I do this? I tried abline, but the line extends to the top of the graph and looks ugly.

g = d$mydata
hist(g)

enter image description here

g = d$mydata
m<-mean(g)
std<-sqrt(var(g))
hist(g, density=20, breaks=20, prob=TRUE, 
     xlab="x-variable", ylim=c(0, 2), 
     main="normal curve over histogram")
curve(dnorm(x, mean=m, sd=std), 
      col="darkblue", lwd=2, add=TRUE, yaxt="n")

enter image description here

See how in the image above, the y-axis is "density". I'd like to get that to be "frequency".

Answer

StanLe picture StanLe · Nov 19, 2013

Here's a nice easy way I found:

h <- hist(g, breaks = 10, density = 10,
          col = "lightgray", xlab = "Accuracy", main = "Overall") 
xfit <- seq(min(g), max(g), length = 40) 
yfit <- dnorm(xfit, mean = mean(g), sd = sd(g)) 
yfit <- yfit * diff(h$mids[1:2]) * length(g) 

lines(xfit, yfit, col = "black", lwd = 2)