Comparison between the GSMF in DIANOGA PCs and in observations of PCs at z ∼ 2 − 2.5 (Spiderweb, CLJ1001, 14 PCs in the COSMOS field; Pannella et al., in prep.; Sun et al. 2024; Edward et al. 2024, respectively). For each set of observations, a simulated GSMF has been produced to match the selection of galaxies as closely as possible. For each selection, GSMFs have been extracted along three orthogonal lines of sight, convolved with Gaussian errors with scatter 0.3 dex (see text), and the solid lines (shaded regions) show the median GSMFs (16th–84th percentile ranges, respectively) across all realizations, in the same color as the corresponding data.