\draw (0,0) -- (60:.75cm) arc (60:180:.75cm);
What does the colon in (60:.75cm) mean? Normally, I'd define a normal point there.
Asked
Active
Viewed 2,540 times
18
Nazia
- 585
- 1
- 5
- 7
-
Figured it out and wrote a neat answer, but apparently I can't post it within 8 h of asking, it told me AFTER letting me write the answer!! (this is a bug report) – Nazia Mar 07 '12 at 20:32
-
That's hilarious, the same second! – Werner Mar 07 '12 at 20:37
-
@Werner Well, that's a first. – Torbjørn T. Mar 07 '12 at 20:38
1 Answers
19
The colon signifies that polar coordinates are being used. (60:.75cm) means the point that is at an angle of 60° and a distance of 0.75cm from the origin.
In the TikZ/PGF manual this is mentioned in section 13.2 Coordinate Systems, p 125:
The implicit form for
canvas polarcoordinates is the following: you specify the angle and the distance, separated by a colon as in(30:1cm).
This also holds for other coordinate systems like xyz polar. Alternatively, if you're not interested in this shorthand notation, TikZ also provides
\pgfpointpolar{<degree>}{<x-radius>/<y-radius>}
where <y-radius> is optional. See section 70 Specifying Coordinates (p 571) of the documentation.
Torbjørn T.
- 206,688
-
"If the optional
y-radiusis given, the polar coordinate is actually a coordinate on an ellipse whosex-radiusis given byx-radiusand whosey-radiusis given byy-radius." – Yaroslav Nikitenko May 26 '22 at 08:22