title: figure.add_subplot() vs pyplot.subplot()
body: <p>What is the difference between <code>add_subplot()</code> and <code>subplot()</code>? They both seem to add a subplot if one isn't there. I looked at the documentation but I couldn't make out the difference. Is it just for making future code more flexible?</p>
  
  <p>For example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>fig = plt.figure()
  ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>vs</p>
  
  <pre><code>plt.figure(1)
  plt.subplot(111)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>from matplotlib tutorials.</p>