What is difference between stem and plot in MATLAB?

Both plot and stem functions are used to represent a curve in MATLAB. The main point of difference between the two is that plot displays the continuous values for the curve.

Think about drawing a graph of y= sin(x) using a pencil without removing its contact from paper. On the other hand, stem displays the discrete values of the points on the curve.

Think about drawing the graph of y=sin(x) for specific values such as 0,15,30,45,60and 90 degrees respectively. Then join these points from the X-axis. This is the result given by stem.

Try to run this simple code on MATLAB to find the difference yourself.

The output of this code:

In the code, I’ve used linspace to give the range and the division of values. I’ve used subplot to divide the area of of figure window into 2 equal parts. I’ve also used xticks and xticklabels to change the X-axis from number format to π format. I’ve used other features such as title, grid on to make my curve presentable.

You can clearly see that the curve using plot displays a continuous line while the use of stem results in discrete values marked on the graph.