All, This example from the Metapost manual is beyond my expertise. The second figure is sweet, just what I would want. Can anyone wax philosophic for a bit and explain why the y-scaling keeps the second function single valued? starttext \startbuffer[figure] numeric scf, t[]; 3.2scf=2.4in; path fun; fun:=(0,-1)..(1,.5){right}..(1.9,.2){right}..{curl .1}(3.2,2); fun:=fun scaled scf; draw fun; \stopbuffer \placefigure [][fig:one] {Caption.} {\processMPbuffer[figure]} \startbuffer[figure] numeric scf, yscl, t[]; 3.2scf=2.4in; path fun; yscl=.1; %keep the function single valued fun:=(0,-1yscl)..(1,.5yscl){right}..(1.9,.2yscl){right}..{curl .1} (3.2,2yscl); fun:=fun yscaled (1/yscl); fun:=fun scaled scf; draw fun; \stopbuffer \placefigure [][fig:one] {Caption.} {\processMPbuffer[figure]} \stoptext