\documentclass[varwidth=false, border=2pt]{standalone} \usepackage{pgfplots} \usepackage{tikz} \usepackage{nicefrac} \pgfplotsset{every axis legend/.append style={ at={(0,0)}, anchor=north east}} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \begin{axis}[ axis x line=middle, axis y line=middle, grid = major, width=8cm, height=8cm, grid style={dashed, gray!30}, xmin=-5, % start the diagram at this x-coordinate xmax= 5, % end the diagram at this x-coordinate ymin=-1.1, % start the diagram at this y-coordinate ymax= 9, % end the diagram at this y-coordinate xlabel=$x$, ylabel=$y$, legend cell align=left, legend pos=north west, legend style={draw=none}, tick align=outside, enlargelimits=false] % plot the function \addplot[domain=-5:5, red, ultra thick,samples=500] {x^2}; \addplot[domain=-5:5, green!50!black, ultra thick,dashed,samples=500] {x^2+2*x}; \addplot[domain=-5:5, blue, ultra thick,dotted,samples=500] {x^2-x}; \legend{$x^2$,$x^2 + 2x$,$x^2-x$} \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture} \end{document}