R help - Jan 2021 - Showing error distributions in a point plot

I have a point plot where the estimated points have normally distributed 
errors and I want to plot not just the estimated points, but also an 
indication of the range of uncertainty in each case. The usual way of 
doing this, I believe, is with geom_pointrange, as shown in my reprex. 
However, this suggests to the eye that the errors are uniformly 
distributed when in fact they are normally distributed. I would prefer 
to show bell curves instead of straight lines. As far as I have been 
able to determine, there is no R package to help in doing this. I would 
appreciate suggestions as to how best to proceed.

Philip

# Reprex for error distributions
library(ggplot2)
df <- data.frame(x=1:10,y=rnorm(n=10))
ggplot(df)+
   geom_point(aes(x=x,y=y))+
   geom_hline(yintercept=0)+
   geom_pointrange(aes(x=x,y=y,ymin=y-sd(y),ymax=y+sd(y)))

Search for "violin plots"  at rseek.org.
There is a whole package devoted to them, many packages provide them, and
there is a geom_violin in ggplot2.

Don't know if this satisfies your aesthetic sensibilities, of course.
That's for you to decide.

Cheers,
Bert


Bert Gunter

"The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along and
sticking things into it."
-- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip )


On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 7:42 AM <phil at philipsmith.ca> wrote:
> I have a point plot where the estimated points have normally distributed
> errors and I want to plot not just the estimated points, but also an
> indication of the range of uncertainty in each case. The usual way of
> doing this, I believe, is with geom_pointrange, as shown in my reprex.
> However, this suggests to the eye that the errors are uniformly
> distributed when in fact they are normally distributed. I would prefer
> to show bell curves instead of straight lines. As far as I have been
> able to determine, there is no R package to help in doing this. I would
> appreciate suggestions as to how best to proceed.
>
> Philip
>
> # Reprex for error distributions
> library(ggplot2)
> df <- data.frame(x=1:10,y=rnorm(n=10))
> ggplot(df)+
>    geom_point(aes(x=x,y=y))+
>    geom_hline(yintercept=0)+
>    geom_pointrange(aes(x=x,y=y,ymin=y-sd(y),ymax=y+sd(y)))
>
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