# Rarefaction curve

**URL:** <https://forum.mothur.org/t/rarefaction-curve/2141>\
**Category:** Announcements\
**Created:** [November 25, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.mothur.org/t/rarefaction-curve/2141 "2014-11-25T09:18:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kamgannkuekam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@kamgannkuekam](https://forum.mothur.org/u/kamgannkuekam)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.mothur.org/t/rarefaction-curve/2141/1 "2014-11-25T09:18:01Z")

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Dear all,  
I am new in the world of NGS and am still learning. I am struggling to draw a “rarefaction curve” with output data (final.an.groups.rarefaction) generated in mothur with the command line: mothur\>rarefaction.single(freq=5).  
Could you please advise / help how to draw the curve ?

Thank

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**Author:** ![pschloss](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.mothur.org/pschloss/32/4_2.png) [@pschloss](https://forum.mothur.org/u/pschloss)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.mothur.org/t/rarefaction-curve/2141/2 "2014-12-01T15:01:01Z")

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You can plot the output in R, Excel, anything you want. What are you trying and what problems are you having?

Pat

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**Author:** ![kamgannkuekam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@kamgannkuekam](https://forum.mothur.org/u/kamgannkuekam)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.mothur.org/t/rarefaction-curve/2141/3 "2014-12-13T14:07:32Z")

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> [@pschloss](#):
>
> You can plot the output in R, Excel, anything you want. What are you trying and what problems are you having?
> 
> Pat

I Pat,  
Thank very much for the reply. I don’t know how to use “R”, but will find out on how to use it. I have used 'Excel" to plot my rarefaction curve, but I am not satisfy of what my curves look. I means my curves in excel don’t have the normal shape leading to a plateau as what I get from online-based analysis programme such as MG-Rast. My plot in excel result in two oblic lines (but not a curve). I hope I am not doing something wrong in excel, but please let me know

Thanks