"""Opaque contour sketch; Python3.14, NumPy2.3.5, Matplotlib3.10.7. Writes only its PNG basename to cwd; caller supplies MPLCONFIGDIR. """ from pathlib import Path import numpy as np import matplotlib matplotlib.use('Agg') import matplotlib.pyplot as plt def main(): fig,ax=plt.subplots(figsize=(9,6.5),dpi=100,facecolor='white') grid=np.linspace(-1.3,1.3,1001);X,Y=np.meshgrid(grid,grid) Z=X**2-X**4-Y**4+Y**8 neg=ax.contour(X,Y,Z,levels=[-.6,-.24,-.15,-.05],colors='#2468b4',linewidths=.9) pos=ax.contour(X,Y,Z,levels=[.05,.15,.24,.6],colors='#b84931',linewidths=.9) ax.clabel(neg,fontsize=8);ax.clabel(pos,fontsize=8) yy=np.linspace(-1.15,1.15,500) ax.plot(yy**2,yy,'k',lw=1.6);ax.plot(-yy**2,yy,'k',lw=1.6,label='Exact zero curves') t=np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,1001) ax.plot(np.cos(t),np.sign(np.sin(t))*np.sqrt(np.abs(np.sin(t))),'k',lw=1.6) a=2**-.5;b=2**-.25 ax.scatter([-a,a],[0,0],c='#b84931',s=70,marker='o',label='Strict maxima') ax.scatter([0,0],[-b,b],c='#2468b4',s=70,marker='s',label='Strict minima') ax.scatter([0,-a,a,-a,a],[0,-b,-b,b,b],c='#bb7900',s=65,marker='x',label='Saddles') for x,y,txt in [(-a,0,'M'),(a,0,'M'),(0,-b,'m'),(0,b,'m'),(0,0,'S')]: ax.annotate(txt,(x,y),xytext=(8,8),textcoords='offset points',fontsize=11) ax.axhline(0,color='0.6',lw=.5);ax.axvline(0,color='0.6',lw=.5) ax.set(xlim=(-1.3,1.3),ylim=(-1.3,1.3),xlabel='$x$',ylabel='$y$',title=r'Contours of $x^2-x^4-y^4+y^8$: nine critical points') ax.set_aspect('equal');ax.legend(loc='upper left',fontsize=9,facecolor='white',framealpha=1) fig.tight_layout();fig.savefig(Path.cwd()/'paper-2-critical-contours.png',dpi=100,facecolor='white',transparent=False);plt.close(fig) if __name__=='__main__':main()