5

I am designing tikz images of numbers arranged in a tabular environment. Each number is formatted according to a particular style (different colors and shape). I first define the style for each number and then arrange them in a tabular environment.

Question: Is there a way to make my code more elegant and/or more systematic?

I would have liked to have been able to define commands for numbers in the style of \81, but couldn't work out how to do it (except for single digits) so I settled for \eightyone. However, now I would like to write a loop over a list of numbers, but the "no-number" notation makes it cumbersome. I would like to be able to handle large collections of numbers. Any suggestion?

Minimum example: Edit: In my real-word example each number has a different style, for simplicity here I made them all circled and green.

\documentclass[margin=0pt]{article}%
\usepackage[svgnames,x11names]{xcolor}%
\usepackage{tikz}%
\usepackage{rotating}% provides sideways environment
\begin{document}%
\newcommand{\mycolor}{Brown4!30!DarkGreen}%
\newcommand*\circled[1]{\tikz[baseline=(char.base)]{%
            \node[shape = circle, draw, inner sep = 1.8pt, fill = green!30!black!10] (char) {#1};}}%
\newcommand{\eightyone}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{81}}}%
\newcommand{\eightytwo}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{82}}}%
\newcommand{\eightythree}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{83}}}%
\newcommand{\eightyfour}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{84}}}%
\newcommand{\eightyfive}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{85}}}%
\newcommand{\eightysix}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{86}}}%
\newcommand{\eightyseven}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{87}}}%
\newcommand{\eightyeight}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{88}}}%
\newcommand{\eightynine}{\color{\mycolor}{\circled{89}}}%

\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont%
\parindent=0pt%
    \begin{tikzpicture}%
        \node[anchor = base, inner sep = 0pt, outer sep = 0pt, scale = 6] {%
            \begin{sideways}%
            \begin{tabular}{ccc}%
               \eightyone    & \eightytwo    & \eightythree   \\%
               \eightyfour   & \eightyfive   &  \eightysix    \\%
               \eightyseven  & \eightyeight  & \eightynine    \\%
            \end{tabular}%
            \end{sideways}%
        };%
    \end{tikzpicture}%
\end{document}%

enter image description here

Also, question in passing, I'd like to center the numbers a bit better, being slanted they are currently leaning too much to the right.

Edit: There is a follow-up on this, in case anyone has an interest in these things: Tikz Nodes Positions and Shapes with a General Number of Nodes

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PatrickT
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2 Answers2

6

Here is another minimal solution using \foreach. I have decided to add it as separate answer for the sake of clarity.

\documentclass{article}%
\usepackage[svgnames,x11names]{xcolor}%
\usepackage{tikz}%
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}
\usepackage{rotating}% provides sideways environment
\tikzset{
  81/.style={shape = rectangle, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         },
  82/.style={shape = ellipse, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         },
  83/.style={shape = star, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         },
  84/.style={shape = diamond, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         }
}
\begin{document}%
  \begin{sideways}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \foreach \x/\y/\z in {0/0/81,6/0/82}
         \node[anchor = base, inner sep = 0pt, outer sep = 0pt, scale = 6,\z] at (\x,\y) {\z};%
      \foreach \x/\y/\z in {0/-5/83,6/-5/84}
         \node[anchor = base, inner sep = 0pt, outer sep = 0pt, scale = 6,\z] at (\x,\y) {\z};%
    \end{tikzpicture}%
  \end{sideways}
\end{document}%

enter image description here

Here you have to decide the coordinates and number of columns and rows by yourself. Further improvisation is left as home work ;)

  • This is superb!! So I'm accepting this one instead. Btw I should have used the standalone class for this purpose, as the image will fill the page better, and also by setting, say, scale = 7 inside the first, common node, the image pretty much fills the page. Of course for tight cropping there is this most excellent solution: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/155751/crop-a-tikzpicture/155786 – PatrickT Feb 02 '14 at 02:46
5

Here is one method with matrix and tikz:

\PassOptionsToPackage{svgnames,x11names}{xcolor}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{rotating}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix,shapes.geometric}

\begin{document}

\tikzset{
table/.style={
  matrix of nodes,
  row sep=1ex,
  column sep=2ex,
  nodes={shape = circle, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt, 
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkGreen,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center},
  },
  81/.style={shape = rectangle, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         },
  82/.style={shape = ellipse, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         },
  83/.style={shape = star, rounded corners=.5em, draw=Brown4!30!DarkGreen, inner sep = 1.8pt,
         fill = green!30!black!10,text=Brown4!30!DarkRed,
         font=\fontfamily{pzc}\selectfont,align=center
         }         
}
\begin{sideways}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (mat) [table]
{
|[81]|81 & |[82]|82 & |[83]|83 \\
84 & 85 & 86 \\
86 & 87 & 88 \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{sideways}

\end{document}

enter image description here

  • That was fast! Thanks Harish. Now I'm afraid there is one thing I should have made clearer: each number will have different styles (colors and shapes). Can I still use your approach? – PatrickT Feb 02 '14 at 01:45
  • @PatrickT Certainly, see the updated answer. –  Feb 02 '14 at 01:50
  • thanks! but how do I make a loop work on this? My point was that I wanted to have a collection of objects like \81, \82, \83 and loop over that for n = \1 to n = \100 for instance. Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. – PatrickT Feb 02 '14 at 01:54
  • @PatrickT Do we have the information of gow many columns and rows are possible? You can use a \foreach with pre-determined set of coordinates and styles. But right now I got to go for some time. –  Feb 02 '14 at 02:07
  • Sure no problem, thanks for your help! I am experimenting with tables of about 100 numbers at a time (10 by 10), but may also raise that to 50 by 50 for printing on poster-size support. I would look at numbers from 1 to 100, say, from 1001 to 1100, etc.. The shape-color thing is to visually detect certain patterns based on some of the numbers' number-theoretic properties. The purpose is educational. – PatrickT Feb 02 '14 at 02:11
  • Oh I just noticed your third edit: that's exactly what I meant by "elegant". I may need to put in a bit more work to adapt it to my ultimate need, but it's a good basis for thinking about setting up a loop. And since that answers my (poorly phrased and vague) question, I'll accept your answer! Thanks! – PatrickT Feb 02 '14 at 02:15