Re: set x/yrange for the fit command

[Ethan M. <merritt@u.washington.edu>]

On Friday 17 July 2009 06:56:39 Petr Mikulik wrote:
> A colleague reported me that limitations due to "set yrange" are in charge 
> also for the "fit" command despite that this is not documented. He thought 
> that "set yrange" applies for plots only and was surprised by wrong fits.
> 
> Indeed, documentation for "fit" says that x and y range limitations for the 
> "fit" command must be given as "fit [xrange] [yrange]".

No, it does not say "must".   It says:
    Ranges may be specified to temporarily limit 
    the data which is to be fitted

This is exactly the same as with a "plot" command.  You can specify the
x and y ranges in the plot command itself if you prefer, but otherwise
it looks in the current settings of xrange and yrange.

> And "help xrange" speak about plotting only:
>   The `set xrange` command sets the horizontal range that will be displayed.
> 
> Is this bug or undocumented feature? 
> Should gnuplot or its documentation be fixed?

I think it is already documented.  The text in "help fit" says is behaves
analogously to "plot", and explicitly refers you to "help plot ranges".
Then again, if one person is confused by it, other people may also be
confused. 

-- 
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center
University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742