ACM Algorithm 463 provides three simple functions to produce good axis scales with outputs xminp, xmaxp and dist for the minimum and maximum values on the scale and the distance between tick marks on the scale, given a request for n intervals that include the data points xmin and xmax:
Scale1() gives a linear scale with approximately n intervals and dist being an integer power of 10 times 1, 2 or 5.Scale2() gives a linear scale with exactly n intervals (the gap between xminp and xmaxp tends to be larger than the gap produced by Scale1()).Scale3() gives a logarithmic scale.
The original 1973 paper is online here, which provides more explanation than the code linked to above.
The code is in Fortran but it is just a set of arithmetical calculations so it is very straightforward to interpret and convert into other languages. I haven't written any PHP myself, but it looks a lot like C so you might want to start by running the code through f2c which should give you something close to runnable in PHP.
There are more complicated functions that give prettier scales (e.g. the ones in gnuplot), but Scale1() would likely do the job for you with minimal code.
(This answer builds on my answer to a previous question Graph axis calibration in C++)
(EDIT -- I've found an implementation of Scale1() that I did in Perl):
use strict;
sub scale1 ($$$) {
# from TOMS 463
# returns a suitable scale ($xMinp, $xMaxp, $dist), when called with
# the minimum and maximum x values, and an approximate number of intervals
# to divide into. $dist is the size of each interval that results.
# @vInt is an array of acceptable values for $dist.
# @sqr is an array of geometric means of adjacent values of @vInt, which
# is used as break points to determine which @vInt value to use.
#
my ($xMin, $xMax, $n) = @_;
@vInt = {1, 2, 5, 10};
@sqr = {1.414214, 3.162278, 7.071068 }
if ($xMin > $xMax) {
my ($tmp) = $xMin;
$xMin = $xMax;
$xMax = $tmp;
}
my ($del) = 0.0002; # accounts for computer round-off
my ($fn) = $n;
# find approximate interval size $a
my ($a) = ($xMax - $xMin) / $fn;
my ($al) = log10($a);
my ($nal) = int($al);
if ($a < 1) {
$nal = $nal - 1;
}
# $a is scaled into a variable named $b, between 1 and 10
my ($b) = $a / 10^$nal;
# the closest permissable value for $b is found)
my ($i);
for ($i = 0; $i < $_sqr; $i++) {
if ($b < $sqr[$i]) last;
}
# the interval size is computed
$dist = $vInt[$i] * 10^$nal;
$fm1 = $xMin / $dist;
$m1 = int($fm1);
if ($fm1 < 0) $m1--;
if (abs(($m1 + 1.0) - $fm1) < $del) $m1++;
# the new minimum and maximum limits are found
$xMinp = $dist * $m1;
$fm2 = $xMax / $dist;
$m2 = $fm2 + 1;
if ($fm2 < -1) $m2--;
if (abs ($fm2 + 1 - $m2) < $del) $m2--;
$xMaxp = $dist * $m2;
# adjust limits to account for round-off if necessary
if ($xMinp > $xMin) $xMinp = $xMin;
if ($xMaxp < $xMax) $xMaxp = $xMax;
return ($xMinp, $xMaxp, $dist);
}
sub scale1_Test {
$par = (-3.1, 11.1, 5,
5.2, 10.1, 5,
-12000, -100, 9);
print "xMin\txMax\tn\txMinp\txMaxp,dist\n";
for ($i = 0; $i < $_par/3; $i++) {
($xMinp, $xMaxp, $dist) = scale1($par[3*$i+0],
$par[3*$i+1], $par[3*$i+2]);
print "$par[3*$i+0]\t$par[3*$i+1]\t$par[3*$i+2]\t$xMinp\t$xMaxp,$dist\n";
}
}
