The clarity of a plot sometimes relies on proper scaling of the axes. Very often, the scale is linear; ggplot() displays that by default. But your data might be represented in a more meaningful way if the Y-axis is set to logarithmic, for example.

In ggplot, the scale can be set to log10, log2, sqrt (square root), and reverse (to invert the axis). Here we will see how to do this using a simple example.

Let’s start with the code for a reference plot. This plot is stored in the object baseplot so that we can reuse it throughout the whole tutorial:

baseplot <- ggplot(df, aes(values1, values2)) +
  geom_point(size=2)
baseplot

log10

Here, we use scale_y_continuous() to transform the Y-axis along with the argument trans = "log10" to set the log10 scale:

baseplot + 
  scale_y_continuous(trans = "log10")

log2

Use scale_y_continuous() with trans = "log2" to set the log2 scale:

baseplot + 
  scale_y_continuous(trans = "log2")

square root (sqrt)

Use scale_y_continuous() with trans = "sqrt" to set the square root axis scale:

baseplot + 
  scale_y_continuous(trans = "sqrt")

reverse

Use scale_y_continuous() with trans = "reverse" to invert the Y-axis scale:

baseplot + 
  scale_y_continuous(trans = "reverse")

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