pgfplots-animation-normal-distribution.tex

%\documentclass[border=12pt]{standalone}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{fourier}

% Normal PDF with mean/stdev arguments
\pgfmathdeclarefunction{dnorm}{2}{%
  \pgfmathparse{1/(#2*sqrt(2*pi))*exp(-((x-#1)^2)/(2*#2^2))}%
}

%% Set pgfplot options
\pgfplotsset{%
    every axis/.append style={% axis styles
        width=4in,
        height=3in,
        thick,
        axis lines=middle,
        axis line style={
            ->,
            shorten >=-10pt,
            shorten <=-10pt,
            },
        xtick align=outside,
        ytick align=center,
        tick style={very thick},
        legend pos=north east,
        legend cell align={left},
        legend style={font=\fontsize{8}{10}\selectfont},
        }
}


\def\Picture#1{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[domain=-3.5:3.5, restrict y to domain=0:4, xmin=-3.5, xmax=3.5, ymin=0, ymax=2.1, samples=201]
        \addlegendimage{empty legend}% legendentry #1
        \addplot[color=blue, domain=-3.5:3.5]% legendentry #2
            {dnorm(0,#1)};
        \addplot[color=orange, domain=-3.5:3.5]% legendentry #3
            {dnorm(0,1)};
        \addlegendentry{\hspace{-.6cm}\textbf{The Normal Distribution}}
        \addlegendentry{$\sigma = #1$}
        \addlegendentry{$\sigma = 1$}
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
}

\begin{document}
    % loop over values of the standard deviation
    % explicit list so it prints without approximations
    \foreach \n in {0.2,0.3,0.4,0.5,0.6,0.7,0.8,0.9,1.0,1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4,1.5,1.6,1.7,1.8,1.9,2.0} 
        \Picture{\n};
\end{document}