Building And Plotting a 3D Surface In Python

A cookbook you can use to build and plot a 3d surface

Building and plotting a 3D surface is a skill data science folks should have at their ready. A handy one for any current or aspiring pythoneer too. No, I do not advocate anyone remember by heart the code for this. Instead, use this article and the advice it provides as a memory assist (a cookbook) when you are in need of visualizing a 3D surface.

Some of the reasons you might like a 3D surface may include visualizing a neural network loss function, visualizing three dimensional economic relationships, in physics and engineering, for geographic data, in statistics, and other domains, too.

• Visualizing Neural Network Loss Functions: Plotting a 3D surface can illustrate the landscape of a loss function, helping to understand how optimization algorithms traverse the surface toward a minimum loss.
• Economic Models: A 3D surface can represent the relationship between three variables, such as supply, demand, and price, to better understand how changes in one may result in changes to the others.
• Physics and Engineering: 3D surfaces are commonly used to model physical systems. For instance, you can visualize stress-strain relationships, potential energy fields, or wave propagation.
• Topography and Geographic Data: 3D surfaces are a pragmatic choice when representing past, present, or future physical terrain. Elevation maps help…