Why does changing the axis limits after issuing AXIS EQUAL shrink the plot area?

After issuing the following command in the MATLAB Command Window:

axis equal

changing the axis limits of the plot using the AXIS command will cause the area of the plot in the figure to shrink.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

Issuing the command AXIS EQUAL changes some axes properties from their default values. This is described in the documentation for the AXIS command under "Algorithm", which can be read by entering the following at the MATLAB command prompt:

doc axis

To prevent the plot area from changing when specifying the axes limits after having issued AXIS EQUAL, first issue the command AXIS NORMAL to restore the axes properties to their default values.