Remember that temp is getting shorter and shorter as start increases.
So the index, xval, corresponding to a max in temp is not in itself the correct index into x_range. Rather, you have to increase xval by start to find the corresponding index in x_range:
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
np.random.seed(2016)
N = 100
ys = (np.random.random(N)-0.5).cumsum()
xs = np.linspace(0, 100, len(ys))
plt.plot(xs, ys)
start = 0
temp = []
for i in range(len(ys)): #ys is my range of y values on the chart
for j in range(start,len(ys)): #Brute forcing peak detection
temp.append(ys[j])
xval = temp.index(max(temp)) #getting the index
plt.plot(xs[xval+start], max(temp),"ro")
start = start + 1
temp = []
plt.show()
While that does manage to place the red dots at points on the graph, as you can
see the algorithm is placing a dot at every point on the graph, not just at local
maxima. Part of the problem is that when temp contains only one point, it is
of course the max. And the double for-loop ensures that every point gets
considered, so at some point temp contains each point on the graph alone as a
single point.
A different algorithm is required. A local max can be identified as any
point which is bigger than its neighbors:
ys[i-1] <= ys[i] >= ys[i+1]
therefore, you could use:
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
np.random.seed(2016)
N = 100
ys = (np.random.random(N)-0.5).cumsum()
xs = np.linspace(0, 100, len(ys))
plt.plot(xs, ys)
idx = []
for i in range(1, len(ys)-1):
if ys[i-1] <= ys[i] >= ys[i+1]:
idx.append(i)
plt.plot(xs[idx], ys[idx], 'ro')
plt.show()
Note that scipy.signal.argrelextrema or scipy.signal.argrelmax can also be used to find local maximums:
from scipy import signal
idx = signal.argrelextrema(ys, np.greater)
plt.plot(xs[idx], ys[idx], 'ro')
produces the same result.
