title: matplotlib hist() autocropping range
body: <p>I am trying to make a histgram over a specific range but the matplotlib.pyplot.hist() function keeps cropping the range to the bins with entries in them. A toy example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  
  x = np.random.uniform(-100,100,1000)
  
  nbins = 100
  xmin = -500
  xmax = 500
  
  fig = plt.figure(); 
  ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1)
  ax.hist(x, bins=nbins,range=[xmin,xmax])  
  plt.show()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Gives a plot with a range [-100,100]. Why is the range not [-500,500] as specified?</p>
  
  <p>(I am using the Enthought Canopy 1.4 and sorry but I do not have a high enough rep to post an image of the plot.)</p>