Changing plot scale by a factor in matplotlib

Question

I am creating a plot in python. Is there a way to re-scale the axis by a factor? The yscale and xscale commands only allow me to turn log scale off

Answer 1

Instead of changing the ticks, why not change the units instead? Make a separate array X of x-values whose units are in nm. This way, when you plot the data it is already in the correct format! Just make sure you add a xlabel to indicate the units (which should always be done anyways).

from pylab import *

# Generate random test data in your range
N = 200
epsilon = 10**(-9.0)
X = epsilon*(50*random(N) + 1)
Y = random(N)

# X2 now has the "units" of nanometers by scaling X
X2 = (1/epsilon) * X

subplot(121)
scatter(X,Y)
xlim(epsilon,50*epsilon)
xlabel("meters")

subplot(122)
scatter(X2,Y)
xlim(1, 50)
xlabel("nanometers")

show()