# Plots & LaTeX?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [February 20, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902 "2020-02-20T13:31:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BLI](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bli/32/37206_2.png) [@BLI](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/BLI)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902/1 "2020-02-20T13:31:05Z")

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It seems like Plots (pyplot backend) doesn’t make a distinction between LaTeX symbols \epsilon (\epsilon) and \varepsilon (\varepsilon). However, it does make a distinction between \sigma (\sigma) and \varsigma (\varsigma), and it does make a distinction between \pi (\pi) and \varpi (\varpi). [Are there other variations in LaTeX?]

Is there a reason for this, or is it on the list of things to update?

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**Author:** ![mauro3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mauro3/32/292_2.png) [@mauro3](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mauro3)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902/2 "2020-02-20T13:49:28Z")

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pyplot wraps the matplotlib library (python). Presumably the answer to your question lies there. Have you tried other backends? Also, PGFPlots or PGFPlotsX combine well with latex, I hear.

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**Author:** ![BLI](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bli/32/37206_2.png) [@BLI](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/BLI)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902/3 "2020-02-20T14:05:00Z")

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Hm… normally, I prefer `pyplot` because it tends to have better support for \LaTeX… now, the result is a mixed bag… Here is the result when using `gr`:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/2/f/2f5db064073a10e9f04f6889c1634b00e3ea6b3b.png)

Notice that `gr` correctly renders \epsilon, but it fails to render the LaTeX code in xlabel and ylabel correctly.

When I switch to pyplot, this is what I get:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/4/9/49d183c5e240d54b389165c317e1467090783d6a.png)

Another difference is that pyplot renders the plot in Jupyter notebook even if I add command `savefig(...)` after the `plot` command – in the same cell, while gr doesn’t render the plot in Jupyter notebook if I add a line with `savefig()` after the `plot` command in the cell.

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**Author:** ![hendri54](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/hendri54/32/9621_2.png) [@hendri54](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/hendri54)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902/4 "2020-02-20T16:39:22Z")

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> [@BLI](#):
>
> Notice that `gr` correctly renders ϵ\epsilon , but it fails to render the LaTeX code in xlabel and ylabel correctly.

Have you tried `LatexStrings`? See [this discussion](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latex-code-for-titles-labels-with-plots-jl/1967).

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**Author:** ![BLI](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bli/32/37206_2.png) [@BLI](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/BLI)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-latex/34902/5 "2020-02-20T17:34:56Z")

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I always use `LatexStrings`.