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To shade a circle with Matplotlib’s fill_between, calculate its upper and lower semicircles, sample x-values only across the circle’s diameter, and pass both boundaries to ax.fill_between(). Set an equal aspect ratio so the plotted disk looks circular rather than stretched.

Fill a circle with fill_between

For a circle centered at (0, 0) with radius r, the equation x² + y² = r² gives two y-values at each x: √(r² − x²) for the upper arc and its negative for the lower arc. The square root is real only for x-values from −r to r.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

r = 2.0
x = np.linspace(-r, r, 400)
y = np.sqrt(r**2 - x**2)

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.fill_between(x, y, -y, color="cornflowerblue", alpha=0.5)
ax.plot(x, y, color="navy")
ax.plot(x, -y, color="navy")
ax.set_aspect("equal", adjustable="box")
plt.show()

This produces a translucent blue disk with a dark outline. The 400 sampled x-values make a smooth-looking boundary at typical display sizes; the actual filled boundary is a polygon connecting sampled points, so increase the sample count if the curve looks coarse at your intended output size.

Why both semicircles are needed

fill_between fills the area between curves specified at x positions. Its y2 argument defaults to zero, so ax.fill_between(x, y) fills only between the upper arc and the x-axis. Passing -y as the second boundary fills the lower half of the disk as well. The current stable Matplotlib 3.11.2 API documents the signature as fill_between(x, y1, y2=0, where=None, interpolate=False, step=None, *, data=None, **kwargs) and says it returns a FillBetweenPolyCollection (Matplotlib fill_between API).

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Use a different circle center

For a circle centered at (h, k), use x-values from h − r through h + r. Its upper and lower boundaries are k + √(r² − (x − h)²) and k − √(r² − (x − h)²). For example, after creating x across that interval, calculate the upper boundary with k + np.sqrt(r**2 - (x - h)**2) and pass that array and the corresponding lower boundary to fill_between.

When to use where or interpolate

The basic circle does not need a where mask: the entire region between the two semicircles is wanted. Use where when shading only selected intervals. Matplotlib fills an interval between adjacent x samples only when both mask values are true, so a lone True value does not fill a segment. If the curves cross and a condition selects which side to fill, set interpolate=True when the fill should end at their intersection rather than at a sampled x-node (Matplotlib gallery: Fill the area between two lines).

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Style the fill and preserve transparency

Use options such as color or facecolor to choose the fill and alpha to control its opacity. Matplotlib’s basic example uses a half-transparent fill and zero line width for a clean band (Matplotlib basic fill_between example). The equal aspect setting in the code is also important: it makes one x unit and one y unit occupy equal display lengths, preventing the disk from appearing oval.

If you save a transparent plot, choose PNG, PDF, or SVG. The Matplotlib transparency gallery notes that PostScript does not support alpha transparency (Matplotlib gallery: fill_between with transparency).

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When a polygon is a better fit

fill_between is convenient when a shape can be described as upper and lower y-values across x. If you already have a closed outline as vertex coordinates, or the shape cannot be represented as two single-valued y(x) boundaries, use pyplot.fill to fill a polygon instead (Matplotlib fill API).

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