What is the difference between plotting and drawing? I am a foreigner and I have been doing maths for years. Sometimes, I feel that difference but if someone suddenly asks me about it, I cannot describe that feeling.
Learn English – Difference between “plotting” and “drawing”
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Best Answer
Pictures are always drawn and never plotted. Artists draw. Architects draw blueprints. Engineers draw schematics.
Graphs and charts may be drawn or plotted. The implication is that a plot is exact or somehow determined, where a drawing can be freeform. I would use "plot" when asking math students to make exact graphs, e.g., "Plot y = x2 for x = -5..+5." If I asked a student to "draw the graph of y = x2", then the graph can be rough.
Plotting is also associated with planning a course of action. On a ship you can "plot a course".
There are also computer printers called "plotters" which draw pictures by moving a pen (or something else, like a knife).