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I want to label each axis with an x, y, and z. I know it's possible to label x and y axes in 2D view, but for some reason, I can't do it in 3D view.

Any suggestions?

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+50

It appears as though it's impossible to actually label them in 3D view. Although this probably wasn't the answer you were looking for, there is a workaround.

The reason you can't actually label the graphs:

Labels can not easily be added to 3D graphs because the text would have to be rotated through three dimensions with the graph itself (Apple explained this as difficult to write the code for).

So, a workaround for this:

  1. Save as a pdf
  2. Open the graph and then copy it.
  3. Paste into a word document
  4. Add any text where you need it with text boxes, label axis.

If you'd like to see the original copy of the above information, you can find it here.

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  • 1
    Welcome to Ask Different! Answers on Ask Different need to be more than just a link. It's okay to include a link, but please summarize or excerpt it in the answer. The idea is to make the answer stand alone. Please take a look at the FAQs for more info. Thanks.
    – Nathan Greenstein
    Sep 26 '11 at 0:47
  • The link you posted to clarifies the answer pretty well, though as Nathan suggested, it wouldn't be bad to just summarize that here. I'll give the bounty a couple more days, and if no one comes up with a better answer, I'll award this answer.
    – Dante
    Sep 26 '11 at 3:01
  • You're welcome, my apologies for just linking!
    – sofly
    Sep 26 '11 at 16:52
  • No problemo. If you just did a summary/block quote of the answer you linked, though, I would award you the bounty (not to be picky, but there's always a chance that the link will depreciate and the answer will be lost).
    – Dante
    Sep 28 '11 at 21:13
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    There you go! updated with the information from the source, and changed a bit of the formatting & incorrect grammar from there as well.
    – sofly
    Sep 28 '11 at 21:28
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Another helpful method that I've found was to save a standard 3-d template with colored unit vectors for the positive xyz-axis. I made the positive x-axis red, the positive y-axis blue, and the positive z-axis green. enter image description here

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  • One should mention, that the +-button bottom left corner allows to use equation templates. In the curves section you will find a Cartesian template, which looks like in OPs picture. Moreover you can change the color by selecting the equation and opening the "Inspector" (see top right corner).
    – gr4nt3d
    Sep 1 '17 at 21:29
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Note: If you want to quickly know what axis is what without labeling realize that the z axis will always be above the "horizon." Now use the Right hand rule with the thumb pointing to z (above the horizon). Your fingers should curl from pointing to the X to the y axis. Look up "right hand rule" for a picture.

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