TikZ: Intersection for Fraction Diagram

Question

I am trying to create fraction diagrams for children using TikZ.

Is there an elegant way to fix the top of this diagram of 1/2 in a way that will scale when I want to show, say 29/6 with triangles... and eventually other shapes? It seems that intersections of paths that meet at non-90 degree angles don't quite intersect the way I want them to...

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\(\frac{1}{2}\)

\begin{tikzpicture}
\filldraw[fill=gray, draw=black, thick] (0,0)--(1,0)--(1,2)--cycle;
\draw[thick] (1,0)--(2,0)--(1,2)--cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 1

I am not sure if this is what you want, but looking at the linked image, it seems to be so: I borrowed some code from Ignasi's answer to How to draw triangular grid in TikZ?. Since the triangular grid is built with \nodes, you can easily use their anchors to do the filling, which I placed in the background layer:

The code:

\documentclass[tikz,border=2mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,backgrounds}

\newcommand\grid[1]{
\foreach \i [count=\row from 0, remember=\row as \lastrow (initially 0)] in {0,...,#1}
  {
  \foreach \j [count=\column from 0, remember=\column as \lastcolumn (initially 0)] in {0,...,\i}
    {
    \ifnum\row=0
      \node[tri](0-0) {};
    \else
      \ifnum\column=0
        \node[tri, anchor=north](\row-0) at (\lastrow-0.corner 2) {};
      \else
         \node[tri, anchor=north](\row-\column) at (\lastrow-\lastcolumn.corner 3) {};
      \fi
    \fi
    }
  }
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
tri/.style={
  draw,
  regular polygon,
  regular polygon sides=3, 
  minimum size=2cm, 
  inner sep=0pt,
  outer sep=0pt,
  line width=1pt
  }
]
\grid{3}
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
  \filldraw[cyan!30] 
    (0-0.corner 1) -- 
    (3-3.corner 3) -- 
    (3-0.corner 2) -- 
    cycle;
\end{pgfonlayer}

\begin{scope}[xshift=8cm]
\grid{3}
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
  \filldraw[cyan!30] 
    (3-0.corner 1) -- 
    (3-3.corner 1) -- 
    (3-3.corner 3) -- 
    (3-0.corner 2) -- 
    cycle;
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{scope}

\begin{scope}[yshift=-8cm]
\grid{3}
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
  \filldraw[cyan!30] 
    (2-0.corner 1) -- 
    (2-2.corner 1) -- 
    (3-1.corner 3) -- 
    cycle;
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{scope}

\begin{scope}[xshift=8cm,yshift=-8cm]
\grid{3}
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
  \filldraw[cyan!30] 
    (0-0.corner 1) -- 
    (3-1.corner 3) -- 
    (3-0.corner 2) -- 
    cycle;
\end{pgfonlayer}
\draw[line width=1pt]
  (0-0.corner 1) -- (3-1.corner 3);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 2

One way is to fill first and then draw a single path:

\documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \fill [fill=gray] (0,0)--(1,0)--(1,2)--cycle;
  \draw[thick] (0,0) -- (1,2) edge (1,0) -- (2,0) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

What's an edge?

An edge is an independent bit of path which can go off in a different direction and may be drawn (or not) with completely different options from the main path. It does not disrupt the main path. In this case, the edge draws the perpendicular down, but the main path carries on from the vertex as if no edge had been specified. edges are useful for complex paths, especially. They are constructed after the main path.

To see what is going on, change the path specification as follows:

\draw[thick] (0,0) -- (1,2) edge [red] (1,0) -- (2,0) -- cycle;

By default, the edge inherits options from the main path so this one is thick but, unlike the main path, it is red. In the above image, of course, no distinct options were specified so the edge was also the default colour and blended with the main path.