Why does it take MATLAB a long time to plot 150x1800 data?

I have the following data in my workspace:

X: 1x1800 double

Y: 150x1800 double

Why does it take a long time for me to plot this:

>> figure; hold on
>> for n=1:150
>>    plot(X,Y);
>>    hold on
>> end

Furthermore, MATLAB will freeze when I try to interact with the figure that is generated

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

You might have accidentally plot your entire data 150 times.

(i.e. notice that you are plotting 150x in a for-loop of the same 150x1800 data points)

Therefore, this would significantly use more memory and, unsurprisingly, reduce graphic performance.

Removing the for-loop from your script would achieve the same figure with less figure creation time, less memory usage and improved interactivity performance:

>> figure
>> plot(X,Y);