Typesetting coordinates

Question

I'm trying to typeset coordinates like:

(0 0 0) or (0, 0, 0)

I'm not sure if LaTeX offers a package which can make the notation a bit more professional than just manually inserting spaces between each coordinate.

Answer 1

If you later decide to change formatting (adjusting spacing, etc.), here's an adaptation of Ryan Reich's answer to a similar question about vectors. It will at least give you a semantic command for coordinates:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
% From Ryan Reich, http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/19698/3345
\def\vektor#1{\innervector(#1)}
\def\innervector(#1,#2,#3) {\ensuremath{\left( #1,#2,#3 \right)}}

\let\coord\vektor

\begin{document}
Displaymath version, probably not relevant: \[ \coord{a,b,c} \]
Inline version: \coord{a,b,c}
\end{document}

Answer 2

A solution that works for any number of coordinates (well, at least one):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{xparse}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\coord}{sO{}m}
 {
  \IfBooleanTF{#1}
   {\left(\coord_print:n {#3}\right)}
   {\mathopen{#2(}\coord_print:n {#3}\mathclose{#2)}}
 }

\seq_new:N \l_coord_list_seq
\tl_new:N \l_coord_last_tl
\cs_new_protected:Npn \coord_print:n #1
 {
  \seq_set_split:Nnn \l_coord_list_seq { , } { #1 }
  \seq_pop_right:NN \l_coord_list_seq \l_coord_last_tl
  \seq_map_inline:Nn \l_coord_list_seq { ##1 , }
  \tl_use:N \l_coord_last_tl
 }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

$\coord{0,1,0}$

$\coord[\Big]{0,1,2,3,4}$

$\coord*{\dfrac{1}{2},2}$

$\coord{1}$

\end{document}

With the *-variant we use \left and \right; with the optional argument one can choose an explicit size (with \big, \Big, \bigg or \Bigg).

By changing the comma or the parentheses in the definition, one can modify the appearance.

Answer 3

You might want to define a dedicated command, like

\newcommand{\coord}[3]{\ensuremath{(#1,#2,#3)}}

This allows you to insert coordinates in or out of math environments, e.g., \coord{1}{2}{3}. Later, you can change the typesetting of the coordinates easily by adapting a single line.

Answer 4

You do not have to manually insert any spaces, just use the math-mode and LaTeX will insert the proper spaces itself:

We have a vector $(x,y,z)$ that is orthogonal to $(1,2,3)$ and $(4,5,6)$.