figsize() function in pandas tutorial

Question

in pandas tutorial, they use

http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/jvns/pandas-cookbook/blob/v0.1/cookbook/Chapter%202%20-%20Selecting%20data%20&%20finding%20the%20most%20common%20complaint%20type.ipynb

figsize(15,5) 

I assume this adjust the size of the figures. But where is this function imported from ?

I am just curious about this use, Normally, I use:

plt.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = 16, 12

Thanks

Answer 1

That notebook was probably written for an IPython ran with the --pylab option, that imports figsize from IPython.core.pylabtools.

It's not a good practice to use it, though, as it imports tons of stuff you don't necessarily use and also may clobber some other variables.

Read more:

• http://carreau.github.io/posts/10-No-PyLab-Thanks.ipynb.html