title: ImportError: No module named 'matplotlib' -- Using Anaconda tensorflow environment
body: <p>I'm just trying to learn Tensorflow, but am totally new to Python, so I'm using Anaconda
  I created a conda environment: </p>
  
  <pre><code>$ conda create −n tensorflow python =3.5
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Of course I activated my conda environment</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ source activate tensorflow
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Then I played a bit around in Spyder, tried to plot a MNIST-digit (copy-paste code from my tutor which is tested several times), it includes of course </p>
  
  <pre><code>import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  [...]
  plt.plot(number)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but executing the Python file with bash gives me: </p>
  
  <pre><code>(tensorflow) leon@leon-linux:~/ANNsCourse/Session1$ python helloWorld.py
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "helloWorld.py", line 10, in &lt;module&gt;
      import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  ImportError: No module named 'matplotlib'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm quite confused right now, as the <code>(tensorflow)</code> in the bash obviously denotes that my conda tensorflow environment works (at least from my understanding). Also, from what I understood, conda should have matplotlib built in, right? And it should also load this in my conda tensorflow environment, right? This is what my tutor's slide said </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>There is no need to install further packages like numpy or matplotlib, since Anaconda contains current versions of them already.'</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>and also what I was able to take from everything I Googled and StackOverflowed. Neither Googling nor StackOverflowing gave me any good answer (might also just be because I don't understand enough yet). </p>
  
  <p>My best guess would be that I still have to include matplotlib into my tensorflow conda environment, but this would be contradicting both my tutor &amp; Google, while I also would not know how to do this.</p>
  
  <p>edit: <code>conda list</code> gave me that matplotlib was not in my tensorflowenvironment, so I went</p>
  
  <pre><code>conda install matplotlib
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm still afraid something is wrong with my conda tensorflow environment, shouldn't the matplotlib have been in there by default? It also told me: </p>
  
  <pre><code>Package plan for installation in environment /home/leon/.conda/envs/tensorflow:
  
  The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:
  
  cycler:           0.10.0-py35_0    
  dbus:             1.10.10-0        
  expat:            2.1.0-0          
  fontconfig:       2.12.1-3         
  freetype:         2.5.5-2          
  glib:             2.50.2-1         
  gst-plugins-base: 1.8.0-0          
  gstreamer:        1.8.0-0          
  icu:              54.1-0           
  jpeg:             9b-0             
  libffi:           3.2.1-1          
  libgcc:           5.2.0-0          
  libiconv:         1.14-0           
  libpng:           1.6.27-0         
  libxcb:           1.12-1           
  libxml2:          2.9.4-0          
  matplotlib:       2.0.0-np112py35_0
  mkl:              2017.0.1-0       
  numpy:            1.12.0-py35_0    
  pcre:             8.39-1           
  pyparsing:        2.1.4-py35_0     
  pyqt:             5.6.0-py35_2     
  python-dateutil:  2.6.0-py35_0     
  pytz:             2016.10-py35_0   
  qt:               5.6.2-3          
  sip:              4.18-py35_0      
  six:              1.10.0-py35_0    
  
  Proceed ([y]/n)? y
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which tells me also numpy was missing? Can someone confirm this to be correct now, or is there something fishy with my conda? </p>