How to shade or highlight the upper or lower triangular part in a matrix?

Question

How can I shade or highlight the lower (or upper) triangular part of a matrix in some color like Q above?

If you produced that code in Latex with a matrix, please post the code. :) Also, what do you mean by "triangle"? — Alenanno, Dec 17 '15 at 23:04
Did you have a look at http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/40041/69445? — cryingshadow, Dec 17 '15 at 23:11

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 18 '15 at 10:41

A solution would be:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix,fit}
\begin{document}
\pgfdeclarelayer{background}
\pgfsetlayers{background,main}
\begin{tikzpicture}
 \matrix[matrix of math nodes,left delimiter = (,right delimiter = ),row sep=10pt,column sep = 10pt] (m)
 {
 1  &3 &-8\\
 2  &0 &1\\
 -7 &9 &1\\
 };
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
 \node[inner sep=3pt,fit=(m-1-1)]          (1)   {};
 \node[inner sep=3pt,fit=(m-1-2) (m-2-3)]  (2)   {};
 \node[inner sep=3pt,fit=(m-3-3)]          (3)   {};
 \draw[rounded corners,dotted,fill=green!50!white,inner sep=3pt,fill opacity=0.1] (1.north west) -- (2.north east) |- (3.south west) |- (2.south west) |- (1.south west) -- cycle;
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This is great. Thanks a lot! Just curious: is there a way to replace those zigzags along the diagonals with a straight line? — bluepole, Dec 18 '15 at 14:16
Yes it is possible with the path (1.north west) -- (2.north east) |- (3.south west) -- (1.south west) -- cycle, but I don't think it will not look good without further tinkering. — Bibi, Dec 18 '15 at 14:23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 18 '15 at 11:07

1

You can use the color or xcolor package, and print in an alternative color some entries. For example,

\begin{pmatrix}
    q_{11} &  q_{12} &  q_{13} \\ 
    \color{gray} q_{21} &  q_{22} &  q_{23} \\ 
    \color{gray} q_{31} & \color{gray}  q_{32} &  q_{33} 
\end{pmatrix}

answered Dec 18 '15 at 11:07

Robert Fuster

1,151

Thanks for the suggestion! I would like to highlight the whole triangular part, not just the individual elements. – bluepole Dec 18 '15 at 14:18

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 21 '23 at 12:28

With {pNiceMatrix} of nicematrix and TikZ.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nicematrix,tikz}
\begin{document}
$Q = 
\begin{pNiceMatrix}[margin]
\CodeBefore
  \tikz \fill [blue!10,rounded corners] (1-|1) |- (2-|2) |- (3-|3) |- (4-|4) -- (1-|4) -- cycle  ; 
\Body
  q_{11} & q_{12} & q_{13} \
  q_{21} & q_{22} & q_{23} \
  q_{31} & q_{32} & q_{33} \
\end{pNiceMatrix}$
\end{document}

You need several compilations.

How to shade or highlight the upper or lower triangular part in a matrix?

3 Answers3

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